Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The New Adventure
by MisterBland1
Summary: A child finds himself in a different place, living as a different creature and with no memories as to why. All he has is a plea to stop Annihilation - except Annihilation devastated Pokéarth centuries ago. Only a lone Territory and its Adventure Initiative survived. But a dark plot within the Initative itself might take away the sliver of peace the Territory has left.
1. Chapter 1: The World Anew

The child found himself in a new place, and it was dark.

A body struggled for life. Its ears listened to a steady roar. A force began to push – up… up… not so fast. Would it all be over before the first breath? Hind legs kicked sleepily in the deep.

A slender arm wrapped grabbed the quilava by the scruff of his neck. It wrenched him out of the lake, soaking wet and gasping for air. The savior gasped at the writhing body in front of her.

"He must have slipped in," she cooed. "Oh, poor child."

"I'd say so!" A voice cried. It belonged to whatever helped push up the quilava. "I saw it myself. No way he slipped. He fell in, and plummeted straight to the bottom like a rock."

"From where?" She asked. "There is no where to fall from."

"From the sky! Bits of cloud left him as he sank!"

She tittered. "Enough of that sort of talk."

The quilava felt his rescuer pick him up. His eyes opened, two little slits – a fish was busy swearing on his life that he saw the creature fall; a slender, human-like figure took the child up into her arms... The quilava saw, but chose not to before long. What wild sights… it had to be a nightmare…

Then came a long stretch of time filled by emptiness. By the time he was conscious again, the quilava felt the warmth of a fireplace at his back. The humanoid from earlier presented a cup to him.

"Drink," she insisted. "It will relieve your cough."

The drink bumped into his muzzle – his mouth, it began so far away from his face! The quilava dove away, clumsily knocking the drink out of the cup. The creature asked what was wrong.

"...Everything?" the child replied. Speaking just confirmed it: he really did have a snout, now. "It's all wrong."

"Perhaps you did fall?" She wondered out loud.

"I can't _remember_. Everything is wrong!" He repeated harshly. It was like having a nasty fever. Yet it wasn't painful, only different and startling.

The creature and her cup withdrew. "Then you have to try hardest to remember when the memory-loss is at its earliest," she explained. "I will ask you questions. Do your best to stay calm and answer them."

She asked: "your mother and your father are in danger. You can save one, but not the other. Who do you choose?"

The quilava remained silent. The question scared him. Then, for the sake of his memory, he tried to recall something, anything he could use to solve this dilemma. Other memories, he sensed how they laid just out of reach. His parents, however… nothing. They didn't exist.

After a minute or so of silence, the humanoid sighed. "Usually, this question provokes one to recall their family. Yet you seem unable to do so… an orphan, then? We will worry later." Next question: "Remember your best friend in the whole wide world!" She said, trying to stay chipper. "They encounter a serious problem. Do you solve it for them, recommend a solution… offer comfort?"

How was he supposed to care about such things?! Besides, any memories of friends were absent, much like those of his parents.

No parents. No friends. Yet somehow he was more alone than ever. The quilava buried his head under his paws and wailed. He tried hard to ignore the pads on the bottom of his paws. "I am a parentless, friendless, ugly monster! I must have been very bad!"

"No, no, child!" she pleaded. "Having no recollection of such things doesn't imply that you are unworthy of them. You are such a strapping young quilava, and I can sense your gentle heart. Your mark is clean."

The questions, surprisingly, helped knock loose _one_ important thing.

"...I _was_ bad. I used to be a h… human." Memories of his old shape came rushing back to him. Tussled hair, dirty face, a wide grin and the taste of an apple he stole. Those details seeped into him like toxins. "I stole things until a… _one of you,_ caught me.I remember now -my punishment is to stop _Annihilation_! Then I can stop being such a nasty creature!"

His caretaker let out a small whimper. "Oh, my poor, innocent child!" She cried, taking his new body up in a tight hug. He let out little yelps as he struggled. "What torture you've endured, to be convinced of such a tale. I can only hope your abuser fell alongside you, and suffered a pit of rocks instead of a lake." A note of menace crept into her voice. A profound sort of chill went down his spine. "You must never say you're a human! You must never tell others what you just told me here!"

"Why _not?!"_ He barked. "It's the only way to-"

She squeezed him tighter. "Whoever told you such things has tampered with your memories. They wish for others to believe your purpose as much as you believe it yourself. Then this abuser will profit off the resulting delusions. I've seen it all before."

"Get off of me!" He screamed. "I have to stop Annihilation and go home!"

"You cannot! You will never be able to stop it, no matter how hard you try."

" _Let go, let go, let-"_

"Child!" she wrenched the quilava's head toward her own. Her strange eyes became pained and silenced the child. "Please. The Annihilation you want to stop… _happened centuries ago._ "

… Centuries ago.

It was the truth, the quilava knew it. The news shot through his heart and he fell, reduced to staring at the ceiling of the cabin. He listened to the crackles of the fireplace, his infernal ears twisting towards the noise.

He was trapped. The one chance he had, a _lie._

The quilava didn't declare his intent to starve – not to Grace, his savior, nor to himself. But he wallowed silently in emptiness while his body twitched by the fire. Grace tried many times to help him, to no avail.

His body twitched impatiently. _Don't you want to use me?_ It asked gleefully. _We can sniff things._

No. The nameless quilava wanted to leave this nightmare as quickly as he came.

 _Your nose is dry. It's a sign of unhealthiness. You ought to eat and drink soon..._

The child inside the creature ignored the plea to move.

Several hours blended together into one long, agonizing experience. His stomach grumbled loudly. His nose was very dry.

Then, sometime after the sun passed overhead, a paw started to prod the quilava.

"Is he dead?!" Its owner asked. This voice belonged to someone other than Grace. It was husky yet high, and incredibly playful. The newcomer had a dusty scent, the sign of a well-traveled creature. Under this scent was the stench of burning rubber – yet it was… _pleasant?_ "Because he looks dead. Dang it! If only a genius strider such as me caught on to this scheme. If whoever did this really wants to stop Annihilation, I'd be _glad_ to send them back there using my secret attack!"

"Do you hear that?" Grace said. "A growlithe your age has come to visit. Isn't he a curious one? He, nor you, seem like monsters to me."

"Monsters, huh?" The 'growlithe' said curiously. "Monsters and pokémon have nothing in common. Well... there's no denying that a mangy purrugly is a real horror-show!" The quilava wondered if, when these creatures slept, if they had nightmares about themselves. "I'm a friend of Grace's. If she wants me to be your friend for a few days, I _guess_ I can take a break from roaming the Territory."

"I don't need any favors," the quilava spat suddenly. "I just want to stay here." Grace gasped; she was merely relieved to hear him speak.

The growlithe leaped into sight. He was stocky and durable, a body that fitted his voice. He had white tufts of wildly-grown fur. These patches were surrounded by a bright, groomed orange coat. As much as the quilava wanted to feel disgusted, it occurred to him that they weren't a meeting of monsters, but of _pokémon_. They too existed in the world he came from. From what he could remember, that made him a strange sort of animal. An animal, yet they all spoke to each other. An animal...

"Whoa!" The growlithe barked. "You look super embarrassed."

The quilava whispered something.

"Eh?" The dog leaned in close to listen. Once he heard, he tilted his head. "You are… n _aked?_ Like, you feel 'naked' without your memories?"

"I used to wear clothes as a human," he whispered in reply. "I have nothing on. I'm a strange pokémon, t-this is scary."

"You're twenty kinds of weird!" The growlithe accused. "You have a thick coat of fur. Stop acting like a weirdo and come eat. Aren't you the least bit curious about the pokémon life?"

"Don't encourage his delusions," Grace chastised under her breath. "Once he eats, I will break them." Grace possessed a sort of destined name – as foreign as it all was, the quilava sensed the gentleness of her gait. Though the way she used that word, _break…_ his claim to humanity angered her.

Maybe… just waiting to either be sucked up into a portal or die… it hurt too much and the quilava couldn't resist the optimism in his heart. That voice bugging him, the one he assumed came from his new body, was really the part of him interested in this change. Perhaps some villain _did_ brainwash him! And he had a home outside the cabin! Parents! Friends!

"Suppose what you like about who you are," the growlithe said, as if reading the quilava's thoughts. "You're a _pokémon_ through and through. It's not all bad, I promise."

Rising boldly to his feet, the quilava tried to leave the fireplace. His stout haunches made it hard to walk, and he tripped.

The growlithe laughed. "Uh, Arceus gave you four legs for a reason."

To spite him, the child persisted in his two-legged efforts till he reached a table. Grace joyfully laid out some fruits. He bent down and ate, the juices leaking onto his snout. After licking some blueberry juice from his nose, the quilava let his tongue roll out to its full length.

" _Mm tong is hue-guh_!" The quilava cried, going cross-eyed to inspect it. " _Oh no, whai's et so beg… yeow_!"

"Uh-uh," Grace said, pinching his nose. He packed his tongue back in (somehow), stung by the precise pinch. "You must be polite when eating. Sticking your tongue out is unsightly." Even so, she seemed happy.

The growlithe sneaked in from his blind-spot. When the child turned back to snarf down the rest of his meal, the fiery pokémon surprised him, his own tongue lolling around.

"Moine's bigguh!" He announced. The quilava yowled and fell over, twisting. His forearms instinctively caught him and the child scrabbled for cover on all fours. The dog barked with laughter. The laughs wilted once Grace got a firm grip on his nose. "Oof, oof, sorry! G-Grace, mercy, this is not an end fit for a _death-seeker_!"

She let go on the spot, affronted by the title.

The quilava gaped as well. _Death-seeker. Genius strider._ What did these titles mean in this new world?

Grace answered the remark with fury. "Child, you must quit this death-seeking nonsense! Must you pretend as both a 'genius strider' _and_ a 'death-seeker?!' You are liable to run across a pokémon willing to oblige to the latter..." it was easy to see how worn-out this argument was.

Unbelievably, the growlithe jibbed that criticism. "A death-seeker is one who awaits his equal! None who do evil are sure of their ways. When a would-be villain comes to strike me down, I stare them square in the eye. If there is but a hint of doubt in their intent to kill... I strike them down!" He unsheathed his claws and slashed the air. "The moment I meet and succumb to true evil is the moment I gladly accept the embrace of death." He pointed his nose to the air, trembling with passion. " _S-so cool!_ "

Grace swung open the door to her cabin. "I need a breath of fresh air," she lied. "Please, ch-child… eat your meal. Your new friend will keep you company."

She flew from the room, leaving the quilava and growlithe together. They stared at one another, caught in an awkward hang. Not knowing how to break the ice, the quilava ate his meal while his 'new friend' cooled off.

That proved to be too difficult. So the child turned from his meal and, feeling nervous, spoke.

"I didn't expect that sort of speech from a pokémon, Doggy," he said, chewing on some grapes.

The growlithe twisted around. "Eh? D-Did… did you just call me _Doggy?"_

It took a second to catch the little blunder. _"Sorry!"_ He cried. "I am so confused, and it slipped out! But..." a memory! A memory of an only friend, though hazy, broke through the fog in his head!" "I met a mongrel dog once. I called him Doggy, and I'd share bread with him every day..."

"Own a dog… that was all the rage in Pathen a year ago. Then everyone sorta decided it was deranged. Maybe it's different for humans..."

"So, you do believe me. I thought you were trying to make me feel better."

"Sure. Why not? I've been to Native Lake – there's no place to fall from. You see, uh… Grace can be a little passionate. She's a type who sets out to make friends, so that means losing a lot of those friends to silly reasons."

 _Pokémon are dangerous_ – that caution rung true. He pressed the pad of his paw against his fangs. He wrenched away, two red beads forming on his paw. "This place must be dangerous. All the more reason… I want to go home. I'm not meant to be some creature who walks on all fours and bites things. Please. Striding means you take long steps, so you must move around a lot, right? Take me to the exit."

"Why didn't you say so earlier? Just take a left at – no, pal. That's too tall an order," the growlithe muttered, turning away, "even for the likes of me."

"Please, _please_!" The child sobbed. "I am so disgusted with m-myself. How could a human ever live as a pokémon?"

A bunch of grapes splattered against the ground as the growlithe bounded forward into the table, a snarl revealing his sharp teeth. " _Hey!_ " He shouted. "You compare me to a mongrel dog, call me nasty, and then expect help from me? As far as I'm concerned in all of this, you can screw off all the way to the Outside..." having successfully startled the ex-human out of his sobbing, the pokémon grinned… " _or_ , you can suck it up and let me introduce your new world. More importantly, I can help you understand your new body – by now, I bet your legs are begging for a stretch."

Still stunned, he curled up near the wall. "I'm sorry," he whispered. _Outside._ Something about the word spelled certain doom for a small thing like him. "If there's no other choice, I want your help. I _n-need_ it."

"Goh-hoh-hoh, what troubled pokémon _doesn't_?!" The growlithe guffawed, lighting up the cabin with his laughter. "From now on, you may call me Doggy."

"Wait a minute," the quilava said. "That's the name of my old dog. Why-"

"He was your one friend back then, right?. And I'm your one friend now. It's poetic… it's _so cool!_ " Nothing was really cool about the name _Doggy_. In fact, the choice reeked of pity; the growlithe likely wanted to fill that impossible gap – the years of memory that were gone the moment the quilava fell into Native Lake.

"As a tireless roamer, I had no name before this... honest!" Doggy added in reply to a dubious look. "Because of this, I think it's only fair I get to name _you_."

The quilava was very worried. To receive a name from such an uppity creature… would his name end up violent, like _deathclaw_ or _badgerslit?_ "O-okay. Choose something modest, if you can." He blurted out the last part on the same breath.

Doggy pointed at him dramatically. "Your name is… _Upright!_ Because you seem adamant on walking on two legs. Like a bozo. But you do you, and that's-"

" _So cool_?' Upright answered.

A strange name. _Upright._

Who was he to complain?

Steps from a familiar gait prickled Upright's ears. He'd have thought it impossible, to determine someone by their walk. Yet he knew that Grace was returning from her walk.

Doggy scrambled to clean up the grapes. "Leave things to me," he said. "Grace will have gone crazy over your situation. Whatever the outcome of her tests, I'm taking you to the boundary of the Territory afterwards. Trust me when I say it's an eye-opening experience."

"I've returned!" Grace called breathlessly, throwing open the door. "Child, pardon my rudeness but I must know… whether or not you used to be human, the odds notwithstanding."

Was Doggy psychic? Or did he know Grace that well? Confused about what these _tests_ might involve, Upright raised a shaky paw. "U-Um, first of all, I decided on the name Upright." Grace mused over the name. She seemed to like it overall. "What will these tests include?"

"Nothing bad ch… Upright. All pokémon have a motherscent, a remnant smell of mother that marks one's heritage. By your age, it's too hard to detect by nose alone. So I will use my energy to draw out the scent into the cabin."

"My mom has a smell? Do _I_ have a special smell, too?" Upright asked anxiously.

"Duh! Everyone has a scent," Doggy told him. He received a cold glare from Grace. "Pardon me. Sweet, handsome, strapping, little blessing of Arceus… _duh,_ you bozo- wait, yeow!" Another nose-pinch for the troublemaker.

The quilava hung his head, hiding a shy grin. "I-I'm… sorry if I smell bad. I was in a lake with fish, a-and, you know."

Grace giggled, however forced, as she prepared this 'energy' requisite of the scan. Forces in the cabin acted within the shadows, drawing tiny buzzes from Upright's coat. "No, child. While you have a wet-animal smell, your identity mark is connected to your spirit. Since you've no clue of your past, your mark is that of lavender – for mammalian newborns. Reptilian newborns smell like chile oil."

"Great. I smell like a baby." Upright sighed, but saw his own humor as a welcome change – a few hours ago, he thought his life completely over. "I think I sensed Doggy's-"

"How demeaning!" Grace cried. "Why would speak down to your friend?"

The growlithe intervened before Upright got a pinch right on the snout. "It was my choice. I find it endearing! And it bespeaks my overwhelming humility! Goh-hoh-hoh!"

" _Children_ ," Grace concluded with a bemused sigh.

"A-anyway," Doggy said, "I bet you did. Like burnt rubber. It isn't be unpleasant, because my spirit is mostly good."

Upright found that very nice, though the fact Doggy bothered to mention he was _mostly_ good snagged him. He ignored it, trying to test his nose on Grace. His eyes widened. "Grace," he said excitedly, "your mark is like wet grass. But it smells so good, so _right_!"

Doggy nodded. "Grace is the nicest pokémon in all the territory. The rumor I've heard – but don't try to get her to admit it," he recommended, "is that she has _never, ever_ acted outside the best interest of the Territory. This gardevoir always has the best intentions in mind, which is why she earns this death-s… _pokémon's_ seal of approval. Also… that was a little flirty, Upright. Do you pretend to be a human to woo- okay, okay." He backed away from the gardevoir. "I'll quit it. I mean, you're obviously flustered-"

"You may learn more later," Grace said to Upright, after leaving Doggy pleading on the ground. "Right now, I am ready to extract your motherscent. A villain placed a block on your memories, but your spirit is unalienable, no matter how much others try… it is for you to decide how it will regrow, and how it will change. Ready?"

"You would know if I am." Upright panted nervously. His tongue hung out. A pressure – better called a _presence,_ made it hard to breathe.

A concussive blast knocked the air out of him. Upright released all his air in a single gasp, as if his soul was being sucked away. It sucked beyond what he had in his lungs, until Upright wheezed breathlessly into the orderly cabin.

A new sensation entered the room: Upright's motherscent. How would he describe it? There were two distinct smells: a sort of neutral smog… and the chilling wind of a storm, yet not one of snow nor rain.

Before the quilava had the chance, Grace clutched him.

"Two marks. One motherscent of a human mother, as I've heard it described, and another for the pokémon who reformed you. Y-you're… you're really… oh! You must not ever leave this place!"

Upright wished the opposite had proved true. To know for sure that his very existence was tampered with: it was not a comforting idea. A pokémon with the power to reform existence itself, had made a mistake and placed him after the catastrophe it ordered him to prevent. What cruelty. What bad luck. He was a tool to this mysterious pokémon, a badly-treated one at that. But Grace treated him like the child trapped under all that abuse. And Doggy bothered to name him. The child knew right away that whatever life he had ahead of him, it would be meaningless if he strayed from either pokémon.

Those two buoys began to float apart. Doggy shook his head vigorously, likely to clear out the motherscents swirling about in his head. "Okay – whoa, whoa, whoa! You're legit. Like, you're out of this world."

"I thought you believed me!" Upright accused. He tried to pull out of Grace's grasp, to no avail.

"It was easier to believe you when I thought you were delusional!" Doggy retorted. In a crazy way, that _almost_ made sense. "B-But! You have a lot to learn, then. A lot to see and feel. Grace, you couldn't restrain any pokémon, let alone one who hasn't stretched his legs yet.

She shook her head and stood up. "No. I will not release a helpless human to his doom. Humans are notoriously soft. He will see our world and balk at its strangeness, its toughness. Others will find his secret and exploit it, till the benefit of doing so hinges on his life."

"Grr… I can't believe I'm arguing against Grace, of all pokémon!" Doggy refused to back down. "Even now, you think this is best? It isn't. Maybe humans are notoriously soft. But Upright survived the transformation. That makes him… er, _surprisingly tough!_ And if you deny him a chance to see the Territory and Pathen, it would be a disservice to that strength."

Grace looked about ready to cry. She cared so much. "What would you have from me?!"

"Let me take him to the boundary," Doggy answered. "Then, a visit to Pathen. A taste of option B."

"Never," she hissed. "I hardly approve of you going near the former, and I _forbid_ the latter. That city is without hope."

It happened: Grace's wonderful identity mark faltered ever so slightly. She lied about this city, Pathen – said it was hopeless, while she still hoped.

It helped Upright reach a choice about _his_ life. "I demand to go!" He growled. "I have fangs and, uh, claws. At least, I think I- ah." He had claws. Once he felt them slide out, their presence became unforgettable. Veritable spikes, stored within his padded paws. "Please. Let me go for a visit. Odds are, I'll be freaked out." Any more hidden pokémon features, and he'd flip.

" _...Children!"_ Grace cried. This time, it was not in good humor. "You may have your foolish 'tour' - tomorrow at the earliest, you may bring Upright straight to the boundary. Then you will return here before visiting Pathen. Also, you shall keep him away from _that_ place the whole time."

Doggy grinned. "Thanks, Grace. You ought to get what rest you can," he said, turning to Upright. "Tomorrow, we're going straight wild!"

Upright nodded and curled up by the fire. It was hardly evening, but a sudden tiredness took over him. Trepidation for tomorrow gave him troubled dreams.

~~~I~~~

 _Who was… Upright?_

A pokémon. Images of creatures appeared before him. The fish who saved him, Grace, Doggy. Upright walked amongst them – their eyes followed his every move. In particular, he was a quilava. A badger-like creature with a slender body. His back trapped in a bothersome heat.

 _Where was he?_

A cabin in someplace called the Territory. Some of the noises ignored for more pressing details, such as the noise of birds outside, led him to believe he was in the wild. Yet a city of pokémon existed, Pathen. A towering place of carnal presence loomed before him.

 _How was he?_

In a good place, though one of little hope for him. Doggy promised to help with the transition. Such a duty would be responsible for either beginning or ending Upright's new life. The growlithe, radiating pride, trotted into the city of Pathen. It swallowed him whole into its imposing gates.

… _Why was he?_

No dream could answer that, or so he thought; Behind Upright, a human child cowered. It shook, its eyes begging the quilava to stay.

"Don't go that way," it said. The human boy had stolen his voice, yet spoke beyond his knowledge. "If you go that way, you will never be safe again. You will be tested by tooth and claw. You will encounter wounds that would kill your old body."

 _Laws of blood…_ "I have to," Upright said with some difficulty. "If for nothing, then because Doggy stood up to Grace. I could tell it hurt him to disagree with a friend. Sorry."

The child nodded shyly. "I thought so. You enter this world through a desire to make friends, and he is the first root to tie you here. I wish to impart your last few instincts now – pokémon here abide by the laws of blood, and you must do the same." The dream started to fade.

"Wait!" Upright called. "Tell me: what are these laws of blood?" Any rules to live by would help immensely. "Are you the one who changed me? How could you _mess_ up that badly?!"

His voice chuckled at him. "Wouldn't you like to ask your friend instead?"

 _Slap._

"Wake up, you loon!" Doggy shouted. "Daylight's wasting, and you're in here mumbling… whoa."

Upright rose, his face stinging from the wake-up call. His body went from groggy to fully awake in record time. All his tiredness seeped out in a large yawn. "I had a weird dream. Is everything okay?"

Doggy paced around the small cabin. "Your eyes. I can't remember what they looked like. Yet I know they've changed overnight!"

"Don't tell me," Upright muttered. "You can see my 'identity mark' in my eyes?"

"And your walk, and your voice, and how you look. An identity mark resides in everything you are whereas smell is just the easiest way to tell. Your mark changed a bit… but the effect is huge!"

Whether or not a change happened, Upright wanted to get the dream off his chest. "In my dream, something-" his human body, but it was best to omit that part – "mentioned the laws of blood. What are they?"

The entrance of a merry gardevoir interrupted Doggy before he got out an answer. Grace, in better spirits than yesterday, took on the burden instead. "There is nothing to fear, child. The laws of blood are inserted into every pokémon at birth. They dictate the obligation to defend oneself. And add some fascinations I… should let you learn on your own. Most importantly, your choices will dictate your identity mark from here on – soon enough, that lavender scent will change. It seems the pokémon who transformed you… waited to see your reaction before imparting the final piece."

Grace seemed more comfortable with the subject. "In other words," Upright asked, "I only had a foot in the door yesterday? Now I'm really a pokémon?" He didn't feel a difference.

"Not yet, pal!" Doggy exclaimed. "It's time to show you to the boundary."

The gardevoir kept an admonishment in check with a swift shake of her head. "Okay. Please, take the supplies I set out. The journey from this cabin to the boundary will take several days, and Upright is in no condition to be hunting live game."

"Yeah, yeah." Doggy stuck up his nose. Still, he went over to the table and picked up a leather satchel. Its make was surprisingly consistent, the leather tanned to an attractive smoothness. "I know a week's journey is a lot to take in, Upright. If you want more time to rest, speak up."

"N-No, thank you. I want to get started right away," Upright said. He made his way to the door. A first glimpse of this world waited.

Doggy walked past him and pushed the door open. A vibrant glade greeted them. It was bereft of trails, and a sweet wind rushed through the trees. This breeze crept its fingers inside, whistling past Upright's fur. It left a wonderful coolness in its wake.

Upright walked outside, taking in the other sensations the forest offered. The noises of animals filled the space outside the cabin – he could tell, because they lacked an identity mark. The leaves underneath his padded paws crinkled. He… he could even feel the earth move ever so slightly as Doggy leaped to his side. The sun pushing through the trees made it all so dreamlike, or perhaps as though Upright leaped into a painting of a forest, with new pigments deciding the colors of the world.

"You look impressed!" Doggy said. "I get to see you experience things for the first time. _So cool!_ "

"I… yeah," Upright said, unable to explain it. All the small details his body picked up formed a new perspective. This forest was any forest back in his world. Yet he saw things differently as a pokémon. "So cool."

"Okay, so we should get set now. Follow me – no straying, got it?"

"Yeah." Upright walked behind Doggy, following his every step like a blundering kit.

"Be safe!" Grace called to them. "And stay away from villages!"

A gap of wonder filled the time between that warning and Doggy pressing a paw against him. Upright snapped out of his trance and looked at the growlithe.

"Are we there?" Upright asked. "At the boundary."

The growlithe chuckled. "Yup. We've been walking for a few days. You are a _very_ focused walker." Doggy ran over to a gap in the ground. There was no telling its deepness from where Upright stood. "Here's the deal, nice and quick: Grace says it will take a long time because she thinks we'll mosey along and ogle every tree. Take detours, enjoy nature, yadda yadda. Nope. After this leap... we're sprinting the rest of the way and getting there by _tonight_!"

" _What?"_ Upright cried. "A week's journey in one day? I can't run that fast."

"Well, I hope you know your way back," Doggy said, grinning.

"This is crazy. This is downright insane - I'll get left behind in minutes!"

Doggy shook his head, tossing about his tufts of white fur. "No, it's Upright insane. I won't leave you behind as long as you try to follow me. Oh, and the craziest thing is – this crack ahead of me leads into a _huge_ abyss. Like, _super duper huge!_ Try to jump it on two legs and you're done for, goh-hoh-hoh!" Doggy looped around and sprinted toward the gap. He leaped, clearing it with ease. Then he was running off into the woods, alone!

This growlithe had gone mad! Still…

A headfirst, all-or-nothing approach sounded nice. Upright knew that Doggy wouldn't lead him straight into danger. If they did things his way, it left no time for doubting or fearing. Those where two greatest impediments, Upright felt.

The quilava backed up for a running start. He planted his forearms on the ground. Certain muscles in his body rejoiced, poising for a burst of speed. It all felt so natural.

Upright never understood the meaning of 'an explosion of speed.' Yet when he lunged forward, it became clear: the wind, calm before, screamed in his ears. The forest became a blur as he flew over the ground.

Then his haunches coiled up into thick cords of muscle. Another explosion of strength sent him flying over the crack.

His eyes caught a glimpse of Doggy past a few trees. The growlithe turned tail, fleeing deeper into the forest. Once Upright landed, he refused to stop. His sprint… it was beyond fast!

A fallen log blocked his path up ahead. Without even considering the danger, his posterior scrunched up into a crouch. He flew over the hazard without losing a step. When shrubs jutted out in front of him, he adopted a serpentine pattern, hopping around them in a seamless flow.

Eventually, all Upright heard was his own panting. Gigantic breaths of fresh forest air pushed their way in and out of his lungs. His own heartbeat, wet and natural, thrummed in his head. _Thumpa. Thumpa. Thumpa._ Exhilaration took over him. No. A _thrill._ The thrill of pursuing another pokémon. Every step mattered. Every loud crunch renewed the path. The smell of burnt rubber filled his nose.

The two ran on. And on. And on. And on… for hours he lost himself to the chase.

After a time, Upright reached something he hadn't considered: a limit. Exhausted, he tumbled onto the forest floor. The quilava's body steamed, chugging along like a well-built machine. That large tongue rolled out – tired as he was, it was too much effort to hold it in. Did he lose Doggy? Did it _matter?_ Scents told all there was to know.

There was no hitches in his body, no ailments, no unhealthiness, nothing that could stop him; Upright's eyes widened with wonder. A breath passed through his mouth, and a bit of exertion left with it. His ears and nose kept alert for potential stalkers.

In a mere half-hour, Upright was up and running.

On… and on… and on. Upright followed Doggy's trail. The forest led way into open plains. New smells. New noises. His sharp eyes saw Doggy running in the distance, an orange speck painted onto a sea of green grass.

A rest came soon after. A bit longer, fifty minutes. Full recovery came in time.

On… _and on…_

When he laid down to rest a third time, a sea breeze reached Upright. He perked up, tired yet curious. The sun beat down mercilessly.

"I can't believe it," Doggy called to him. The growlithe seemed ready to collapse as well. "You're slow, but you didn't trip or falter a single time! And your resting times are well-paced. Your internal compass and clock are impeccable."

"T...Tha..." Upright laid down, breathing hard.

"Are humans not used to running that much?"

"I d-don't… think… recover _so fast..._ "

"Ah. That's your body changing to a special kind of respiration. The more you use it, though, the less it helps. Some pokémon are tough – they can recover from two hours of running in a minute. Even the second time. At the third time bottoming out, for anyone, the resting time becomes astronomical. Which is why you will often pace yourself before then. You'll be out of commission for tonight – me, too! Aiyee, my chest is on fire!"

"Feels good," Upright panted.

"You're damn right! Imagine: yesterday, you were all upset about being a pokémon. Now you sprinted six hours in total and reached the boundary."

"Boundary. To the Territory," Upright said.

Doggy nodded. "When you're ready to see, let me know."

The sea breeze below was thick and inviting. Upright staggered onto two legs and worked his way up the steep hill where Doggy waited. The growlithe moaned, probably expecting the run to get rid of Upright's two-legged habit.

A barrier of deep-blue water cleaved one end of the valley from another. _Cleaved_ , truly, for the precipice they stood on seemed jagged and cut. From their vantage, Upright saw for miles and miles. Did the rolling green hills ever stop?

The growlithe spoke the name of the land beyond the water, and it answered that question. "The Valley that Never Ends. Yo, I heard you wanted to stop Annihilation?"

The one lead to obtaining his humanity. The quilava forgot it somewhere in the middle of his run. "I'm late," he said.

"Sheesh, that's for sure," Doggy replied, chuckling to himself. "Story is, the Scar Sea formed because of Annihilation. The ocean leaked into the crater left by a meteorite. Or, in other stories, a giant legendary created the scar. In others, the ground split apart, ready to become a sea." He scratched his head, unsure of which to support. "Anyway. From this angle, Scar Sea blocks us from the Valley that Never Ends."

"And that's Outside?" Upright asked. He recalled the danger emanate in the idea of Outside, the one he caught onto merely by listening to Doggy mention the name.

"Quick learner, eh?" Doggy said. "Yeah, that's Outside, and it's also terrifying. No one survives out there alone for longer than a couple hours – special groups are sent out to explore."

For a place as dangerous as the Outside, exploration seemed like a gigantic folly. "Why?" Upright asked.

"Inside the Territory, we have homes: villages, a city, packs to run with if the other two don't interest you. But we don't have what our ancestors did before Annihilation. Technology and all that." Doggy pointed with his paw to a bluff. "You see that teeniest hole in the bluff over there? That's Cutter's Alley, a magic place. Once, pokémon discovered a relic that led to a great invention. When you charge it and flip a switch, it emits a powerful light. One can see the clouds at nighttime! Pokémon in Pathen made more and called it a-"

Upright smiled and joined in. "A _skylight!_ "

Doggy was taken aback. "No. A _nightlight._ "

"A nightlight gives off a gentle light while you sleep," Upright argued. "A skylight shows a group where to gather. I, uh, think so."

It took a good moment for the growlithe to realize that he was speaking to a once-human. When he did, the idea stole the air from his chest. "Wow. You're authority number one on this stuff. What else do you know?!" Doggy pounced on him, tail wagging. It made the quilava uncomfortable to tackle so close to the cliff's edge.

"N-Not much!" Upright cried. "I can't remember on my own. If you have no idea it exists, neither will I."

Having his hopes blunted, Doggy went from inquisitive to playful. "Tell me what you know, human," he demanded, his voice taking on a drone. "I shall probe you for all information on skylights as master ordered. GOH. HOH. HOH. I am possessed."

Upright scrambled out of the tight hold. "Never! You will live in the dark forever – literally!" He cried, playing along. Playtime with a friend. He never quite felt it before. Even so Doggy went easy on him, it was fun. They wrestled until the sun started to come down, casting a scarlet shade over the sea.

Winded from their ridiculous sprint, the already-lazy match fizzled off into stray pawing. Upright grew bored and watched over the valley. "I surrender," he said. "I can't feel my feet."

"That's my neuro-poisons eating away your nerves – say, Upright, what is _that?!"_

Across the distance. Upright saw it too and gasped: a herd of antelope sprinted into the scene, dashing for Cutter's Alley. This herd of animals brayed – the noises reached the two pokémon, though silent… and drowned out by the roaring of the green dragon following them. This dragon was humungous. Larger than life. Upright reacted on instinct: ears pinned, all fours, steps in the other direction. No sea would protect him.

A few of the antelopes dove into the small cave. The rest scattered as the dragon blocked the entrance to the cave. Its head snapped out, eating an entire antelope in a single bite!

" _So cool!"_ Doggy barked at the pokémon. They were quiet yelps, the rest of the excitement conveyed in Doggy's vibrant eyes. In the slightest of ways, the growlithe's identity mark changed. Sheer sight of this pokémon altered their perspectives, their _spirits._

In moments the herd was slaughtered. The dragon coiled, pleased with the meal. It let out a prideful roar.

"I didn't plan that," the growlithe said.

"...Obviously," Upright breathed. It was too much. A spell fell over the quilava. The Outside drove fear into him through that display of feasting. Yet a rush similar to his sprint took over. He wanted more of the mystery, the wonder, the _thrill_.

"See that's why the Outisde is dangerous! One step in the wrong direction and you're stuck running with the antelope- _pal?!"_

" _Hey!"_ Upright called to the dragon. To shout across the sea, however narrow the gap, was a long shot. But maybe…

Its giant head turned to the pair. " _What?!"_ It roared back. The voice was so loud!

" _I want to know all about you!"_

Just then, Doggy sprung into action. He tackled his friend. Not a playful sort of tackle – the one that knocks the wind out of a creature. They tumbled down the hill, striking against rocks and tough mounds of packed dirt. When they reached the bottom, Doggy pressed a paw onto Upright's throat.

" _Hello?"_ The dragon called. Anyone around could hear its awe-inspiring voice. " _Where are you, child? You bear an odd mark._ "

Silence. Upright's claws slid out on instinct; the quilava himself already surrendered, too eager for air to squirm.

" _Very funny! I shall remember your mark, strangely-born."_ It sounded like the dragon flew away. Neither could know for sure without checking.

"You… are bonkers." Doggy whimpered and loosened his hold. "Are your wits intact? Don't you know what would happen if you chatted face-to-face with that monstrosity?"

"I don't know what took over me!" Upright shot back, on the verge of tears. "I… I… I am so curious. I want to meet that dragon. _Badly._ "

"Just like a newborn. It makes sense for you to not understand the danger." Doggy sighed. "Sheesh, I overreacted again. I'm sorry to have handled you poorly. Even a genius strider missteps from time to time..."

Upright disagreed. "I almost brought it over here. We'd be with those antelope if it wasn't for you."

This earned a smile from the downtrodden growlithe. "And don't you forget it," he said.

"Can we set up camp?"

"Of course. We can eat, too. Though no fruit can compare to all those antelope."

"Oh!" Upright said, scrunching up a little. Something else occurred to him. "D-Doggy, uh… well, it's been awhile, and what with all this excitement..."

The growlithe tilted his head, curious. "What's eating you?" The quilava whispered something. "Oh boy. The whispering again..."

Doggy leaned in to listen to Upright's humble question. He bolted back, shocked.

"Er, okay? Now just to make sure," Doggy said. "When you say, _do your business_..."

~~~I~~~

 _What, when, how, where – most importantly, why,_ Upright thought, watching the stars pass over him. The bright studs in the sky crawled from one end to the other as the night passed. _Doggy is trying so hard to answer everything, yet I keep asking for more. Will I ever be ready for this sort of world?_

The growlithe was fast asleep. In fact, his friend is what drove Upright to lying awake under the stars; Doggy was a heavy sleeper, and a louder snorer. It was as if the choking snores matched his swaggering confidence. Something in Doggy's dream made him smile and paw curiously at a tall stalk of grass.

 _Hmm. Perhaps that's a good thing. Or, at least, an okay thing. Doggy himself seemed confused by that dragon. But he thought it was – what is that one phrase he uses a lot? 'So cool…' odds are that no one pokémon has all the answers, so I shouldn't be expected to either. Maybe to fit in, then, it just takes a bit of curiosity. The moment I stop learning is the moment I return to my own whats, whens, hows… no thanks! Being curious about the dragon feels much better. That settles it! I have to keep on learning about this world, no matter what!_

Doggy woke up. He sniffled, drawing in the smells around them. "Yo, Upright. You awake?"

"Yeah," Upright replied. "Is there trouble?"

The growlithe took a moment to answer. "No, nothing like that. Your identity mark settled. Incensed lavender." He licked his chops. "Very sweet. It's making me hungry all over again." Watching Doggy lazily smack his lips helped Upright realize that Doggy was half-asleep – the thought of seeing the quilava's mark change had made him sleep with one eye open.

"Incensed lavender?" Upright asked. "But lavender is still for babies."

"You're a fire-type, so your identity relates easiest to fire, and it makes sense you would start out with a mammalian, fire-type mark – even the death-seeker before you smelt like that as a whelp! But a hint to the _unique you_ lies in the subtleties. Hard to tell in the dark… but your fangs are longer. I bet your claws are too."

Upright checked with his tongue. They were! By almost one and a half centimeters, estimating. When he unsheathed his claws, they were curved – likely to tear out more with a single swipe. "Gah!" The quilava cried. "My body was turning into a killing machine overnight!"

Doggy laughed heartily. "Your fur is all ragged, like you traveled a long distance… guess you traveled a worlds-worth, in a way. Also, your nose has widened out in order to pick up a larger range of scents – good for keeping situational awareness! The sight of that dragon gave you such a thirst for adventure, you reacted by becoming travel-ready... maybe? Keep that passion up, you might grow tusks! That sort of thing can happen to pokémon who have a ruffian presence like yours… I think."

Hooked claws, vicious tusks and long fangs – if these were the requirements for travel, Upright considered his chances slim. Another thing that bothered him was that pokémon could change overnight, and the one in front of Upright looked confused about _why_.

"N-No thanks on the tusks! And how could you not know more?" Upright asked. "This is insane. It's sort of a big deal."

"Sometimes, I look at a peculiar tree and my body changes a bit," Doggy admitted neutrally. "Or I talk to a stranger who has a quirk I find myself mimicking days later. A few weeks ago, even, I saw a strong pokémon walking through the forest near Grace's cabin. It looked at me _once_ , and I grew wider legs in a couple days!"

"Wider legs," the quilava couldn't resist repeating. It seemed so random compared to his own transformation.

"For using my secret attack! I won't reveal all, but wider legs means faster jumping from side to side. For a growlithe like me, at least. Goh-hoh-hoh, you are in for it, human! Grace and I are tame compared to some pokémon!"

"Rather than think of it, I choose sleep," Upright declared. He threw himself back onto the ground. "Seems like awake or not, though... my life here is full of confusion." And he wouldn't have it another way.

They situated themselves on the dry dirty underneath. "Welcome to Pokéarth, pal," the growlithe mumbled, already resuming his snore.

Upright laid back. Just as he did, the dragon flew away. The night sky blazoned its green scales, making into a green comet. It waited all that time for him.

The sight of it filled the child with an adventurous spirit.

 **Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The New Adventure**


	2. Chapter 2: The City of Pathen

The next morning, Upright found his belly was damp with dew. It brought a familiar scent. Doggy, pacing around him anxiously, seemed to get the same idea: it was like Grace's identity mark.

"Hurrah! He's not in a coma," the growlithe said.

"Hurrah," Upright mimed. He rose up and stretched, then rubbed a paw along the length of his fangs. No longer than last night, thankfully. "So… Grace expected us back in a few days. Will she be mad if we're back in one?" Instead of answering, Doggy gave a mischievous grin. "Um."

"So…" Doggy crouched. Recognizing it as an invitation to play-wrestle, Upright squared off as well – surprisingly, he loved the scuffling. "Looks like we're at a crossroads. First road: we sprint back. I get pinched for denying you the nature-walk."

The quilava hopped forward with a swipe. A _swoosh_ followed by a _clump_ as his paw hit the ground. Far too slow. "Any more pinches and your nose might fall off..."

Still taking it easy on the newbie, Doggy fell sloppily onto Upright's back. They tumbled about till they were tied in an uncomfortable tangle. "I need my nose," Doggy agreed. He huffed, picking the other pokémon up. "Second road: we take the slow route back."

"Not a half-bad idea. But I really want to run some more – gah!"

A gigantic roar caused a flock of gulls to flee from the edge of the cliff. Doggy tossed Upright away. The quilava rolled away in the grass. " _Third road!"_ That mischievous smile appeared again… "we go _straight_ to Pathen."

Upright shot up. "What?!"

"You said it yourself: we're expected in a few days. Let's cut to the chase and visit Pathen in the meantime! Otherwise, I'll keep tackling you all the way to Grace's-" Upright caught the growlithe as he dashed at him. A bit of gumption and a loud _harumph_ later, Doggy was the one laid out in the grass. "Yeouch! Nice surprise counter, pal!"

"Listen," Upright said, speaking quickly before his friend could continue the assault. "I decided to try and block out my past with as many new experiences as possible. I want to see Pathen, but if I left Grace alone and worrying in her cabin, I would feel horrible."

"No," Doggy replied. "I think you should listen up. I spent all night worrying about this situation, in a way you just can't understand. I think if you go back to Grace, she won't care for your answer. You don't get it – she _really_ hates that city."

Grace, such a gentle pokémon, telling a lie straight to his face. That just didn't sound right! "Grace… won't let me go no matter how I feel?" Upright asked, plain baffled. "She said I could go!"

"Gah, don't make me say why out loud!" Doggy barked.

"I can't believe Grace was planning to keep me cooped up! And you were going to let it happen! W-Why are you looking all paranoid, all of a sudden?"

His friend donned a fake smile and tackled him. Of course. More playtime instead of answers. Yet, after getting in close, Doggy started to whisper. "She might have someone watching us."

"Enough playtime," Upright whimpered.

"Seriously, pal?" Doggy hopped up, letting out a ragged sigh. "Forget the secrecy, then. One of Grace's spies would have gotten us already if we did something bad. If there is a pokémon spying on us," The growlithe shouted to the valley, "and wouldn't like me to talk to Upright, speak now or forever hold your peace!" There were a few places that could be considered hiding-places back on the trail, such as fields of tall-grass or the shade of trees. Near them, however – nothing. Just rolling green hills.

Upright nodded to himself. "You're weirding me out."

Silence. After basking in it, Doggy let out a joyous bark. "Really?" He asked the nothing. "I get to tell him about Grace? _S-So cool!_ And relieving… sheesh."

"Well. Uh, tell me," Upright insisted hesitantly.

"Plain and simple story: Grace is _sorta_ the most wanted criminal in the Territory."

That Grace would lie was one thing. Most-wanted criminal, however… "Doggy, I'm begging you," Upright said. "I was pretty much born yesterday. If you spent all night planning some elaborate hoax… I mean, you _told_ me that she has the best interest of the Territory in mind!"

"Grace cares about the Territory, that's true. And she cares about you. No matter how much caring goes on, it doesn't change the facts: She organizes teams that go to the Outside."

"...What's wrong with that?" Besides sounding very appealing. But Grace seemed unwilling to let him leave a cabin, let alone go past the boundary.

"The big adventuring club out there," Doggy explained. "Grace's group ambushes their teams outside of places like Cutter's Alley. Then they steal the artifacts for our favorite crafty gardevoir to investigate. Oh boy... I can see I'm losing you."

"Yup," Upright answered. "Where would I even fit in all of this?"

"Simple!" Doggy barked. "You saw where she's hiding out. In a place like the Territory, hiding places are _real_ scarce! And, like… did that _feel_ like the pinch of a dainty pokémon? You have to believe me!"

Well – Upright wanted a mystery besides his own to sniff out. Although this was turning out to be pretty corny. Still, he had no other choice but to sigh and concede to the growlithe. "For believing I was human, I will play along. Ah!" Upright cried mockingly to the valley. "What's that?" Doggy turned to look. "Doggy, I distracted the spy! Let's dash to Pathen!"

The growlithe grinned. "Nice going! Hurry, follow me! To that treeline!"

The forest they left looped around their left side. In the distance, the great trees hung over the edge of the cliff. Upright had barely any time to notice them before he was in a full-sprint, an attempted escape from the spy he might or might not believe existed.

By the time the two made it to refuge, Upright needed a quick rest. Even so, Doggy kept hounding him to reach the other side. Under pressure, the quilava stumbled from their end to the other side.

What he saw jolted life into him. "D-Doggy?" He gasped.

"Yeah, pal? Can you see Pathen from here?"

He could see Pathen, all right. Anyone who couldn't desperately needed to get their eyes checked. A crooked obelisk towered over the Territory. The farther his eyes traveled across, nearing the boundary, the more grand it became. A largish town, to clusters of steeped palaces visible from a mile away, to large towers that seemed to rotate in particular places. Then, sprouting from it all: a bridge to the Outside.

What had Upright expected out of a pokémon city? A few drawn-up tents and wood cottages? This was grand, this was entirely different. Upright felt all those great sensations from before get dwarfed by the massive city of Pathen. Pokéarth was real. It had trade, it had criminals (like Grace, possibly), and it had a place for him if he chose to find it.

"What a hopeful look!" Doggy barked. "I must admit, this view of Pathen gets me every time. No one really comes out to this part of the valley… it's odd to sit in a place untouched by pokémon and look at the jewel of the Territory. You kinda forget that we're even capable of coming together. Gah..."

"You okay?" Upright breathed, distracted.

His look of hope was contagious, apparently. "For some reason I get an unshakeable feeling," Doggy said in a hushed voice, "sharing this view with you. As if… grr, it's hard to explain. But it makes me excited! Let's go!"

"Way ahead of you!" Upright called back. The quilava was already making a mad dash for the city.

~~~2~~~

"D-Doggy," Upright stuttered. "Look. He's floating. _Floating!_ "

"Is your friend alright?" The pokémon asked. "All I did was ask his purpose." The growlithe shrugged, embarrassed. Several pokémon were waiting for entry, held up by the quilava's panic attack. Luckily, none of them made a peep – one look back at the gaggle lined up behind them and Upright might faint. "Child, I am from a long line of escavalier, and all of us float. Did you think we could slither with our steely carapaces?"

Somehow, Upright managed to pull it together. Strange as it was to see an escavalier, he would be denied entry if he kept acting suspicious. "Sorry!" He blurted. "Er, heat got to me. My purpose here is to, uh-"

The growlithe swooped in to save the day. "Same as me. We want to browse the market."

"Good choice on the day, then!" The guard exclaimed, letting them by. "New stock from Outside came in hours ago. "I think I'll buy my darling a gift after my shift… you two are cleared for entry. Remember to report suspicious activity – beside your own, ha! Only thing to ruin a day like this is a smuggler sneaking by on my watch."

"Smuggler?" Upright asked in a panic. He looked around for his mystery spy. After hearing that warning, Doggy's story seemed a bit realer than before. "N-Nope! What's a smuggler anyway?! Heh heh. Heh."

So close to being in the clear! Doggy visibly winced at the untactful response.

Mercifully, the escavalier's plans for the evening put him in a good, trusting mood. "If a merchant doesn't present an Initiative seal for his product, it's smuggler's get. You come dashing to me the instant you spot it. Enjoy your day!" The guard called to them as Doggy nudged the quilava down the street.

"Wow," Doggy hissed. "You were so smooth back there. Like butter."

"Sorry. I remembered what you told me about Grace and I panicked- oof!" Some pokémon who entered after them came by, colliding into the quilava. Upright stumbled onto the ground – for a mere bump, it hurt a lot. The green culprit slipped in among the myriad of bodies filling Pathen's main street.

So many bodies. Upright whimpered. Any moment now, the crowd of pokémon would overstimulate his senses. So many identity marks in the same place! Dozens, scores, just weaving in and out on business!

Once again, Doggy swooped in to save him the embarrassment of fainting. With the growlithe at his side, Upright felt a surge of confidence. This was his kind now. He had no choice but to get used to it all. Still...

"I myself avoid Pathen like the plague," Doggy explained, leading Upright through the crowded street. "Whenever I see these streets, the coward inside of me yearns for their safety. Luckily, Pathen doesn't want me, either."

Upright nodded. He pointed his nose toward the sky and buried it under his paws. "Uh-huh," he mumbled.

"What's up with you?" Doggy asked. The growlithe stopped him with a paw. "You're going to bump into somebody like that."

Regardless, the quilava kept his nose covered. "Too many smells and marks. Much more than the Territory. Some aren't very nice."

"Right… some pokémon think they're Arceus's gift and never wash," Doggy spat. Mercifully, they found an open spot under a large canopy to rest. The merchant in his stall saw that they were just taking cover from the hustle outside and clacked its teeth angrily. "Me, a genius strider? This is a shameful day. I usually wash dayly. When there isn't any water nearby, I tongue-bathe!" He licked his arm to show off what he meant. That didn't help Upright settle down at all.

"No way!" Upright exclaimed. "I-I'll stick with water, thanks."

"Ah," the merchant called, "you must be in the market for some shampoo!" Upright bolted up to his full height.

"Shampoo?" Upright asked the pokémon. The merchant had a very slender shape. Like Upright, he had cream-colored fur around his stomach, but the merchant was otherwise a shade of light-brown. "I think I know shampoo."

Doggy nodded. "Maybe you do. Shampoo is different flavors of tea mixed in with curated tree sap. If we were filthy rich, I'd buy some lemon shampoo for you."

Before the merchant could inquire more about how rich they were, Upright offered some praise to the growlithe. "I didn't expect such a good explanation." He remembered shampoo, but not how it was made. For a self-proclaimed roamer, Doggy sure knew a lot of odd things.

Suddenly, a little rock bounced off of Upright's head.

"Storefront area for paying customers only!" The merchant cried, shooing them away.

"Whatever!" Doggy growled back. "Your little stall can shove it. No one gets customers by being _rude._ "

They continued their walk down the main path. Upright tried his best to not let the smells bother him. Although a better whiff of the city led him to wonder. "Hey, Doggy, why do we all have a special marks anyway? Can't others tell us apart by our species?"

"Wait," Doggy replied, "you don't think you're the last quilava on Pokéarth, do you? With what you already know, I bet you can figure it out on your own."

Upright shook his head. Building a reliance on Doggy's smarts wouldn't be healthy in the long run. But the topic of scents interested them both, in different ways, so the growlithe continued anyway.

Doggy mused to himself as they strolled along the cobble path. "I think humans are less intimate than pokémon," he concluded. "What with your neurotic problem with being 'naked'. For example: do humans like to fight a lot?"

"Not exactly," Upright said. "At least, I don't want to fight anyone here."

Doggy tittered. "Uh oh, you're in for a wild ride. Oh well, at least scents will be child's play once you see- speak of the devil! Look, Upright!" Several other pokémon stopped as well, to observe the scene taking place.

A scuffle had broken out under a canopy, in one of the many stalls lining Treasure Street. One pokémon, a large gray wolf-dog, flew out from the store. When it spoke, it had a rough, wild voice. "No need for fear," the wolf-dog said, "the store is marked now."

A wide, gaudy creature followed it to the middle of the street. It was sort of like a raccoon – a screwy, angry, fat raccoon. "I warned you what would happen if you marked my stall again!" The storekeeper yowled.

"M-Marked?" Upright whispered, positively stunned. "He doesn't mean…"

Doggy whispered back hastily. "Remember the wilds we ran through? Packs of wild pokémon live there. Some of those end up coming into society. The city gives them menial jobs while they learn to fit in."

The wild pokémon pleaded his case. "I left a marker! For the stall! Everyone will know where to find us now – thank you and have a nice day!"

The raccoon shook as it argued back. "We have _street names_ , you scatterbrain. The corner of Treasure Street by Skinnyblock… like I said… a hundred times!" Then, the storekeeper did something that made the spectators cheer: he struck the wolf-dog across the face, inciting him to fight back. The two fell into an all-out brawl, clawing and raking at one another.

Upright took in a sharp breath as the wolf-dog put a long gash into his boss's back. The shopkeeper replied by burying his giant teeth into his opponent's shoulder. "They're not playing around," Upright hissed.

"No," Doggy told him. "No, Upright, it's fine-"

"S-Somebody stop them!" Upright cried out to the crowd. "Break them up!"

His pleas were met with laughter from the audience. A pokémon clapped him on the back for a joke well done; they all thought he was kidding.

Before he could shout again, the fight ended. The wolf-dog bucked the shopkeeper off of him, then grabbed hold of his neck, successfully pinning him.

"I give up," the merchant spat. "But you… are _fired!_ "

"Wow," Doggy said reverently. "Even a bidoof's buck-teeth failed to bring that poochyena down. _So_ _cool_!"

The wolf-dog (a poochyena, apparently) gave Doggy a wild glance. Then he dashed past them, tail between his legs. "I am departed, then." the poochyena growled. "Those who show stomach in the wild are meant to be the loser. It isn't like that, here." All the mirth from before died away as the wild pokémon started his slow walk out of Pathen. Upright gathered from Doggy's frown that this was a sad moment.

Yet again, the growlithe explained the situation. "They say a wild pokémon changes the moment they enter society. He'll never fit in with his old pack." Doggy muttered the last part as if he understood the feeling.

Maybe Upright wasn't a pokémon, but he understood it too. "Hey!" He called to the poochyena. The wolf-dog whirled around, snarling. "I'm new here as well, and everything is very confusing. Before you leave… can you show us some cool spots?"

"I'm giving you a tour already," Doggy reminded quietly. "Am I doing a bad job?"

"You're too smart. I want to figure out some things for myself," Upright answered. "This… poochyena and I can work together."

Another protest fizzled away as Doggy realized what was going on. "Goh-hoh-hoh," he laughed. "Thank you for noticing my genius."

"I'll do it!" The poochyena said with determination. A few sighs of relief were shared by the audience. The bidoof, just about to feel guilty, demanded angrily for his employee to return to work. No one paid him any heed.

All this wild pokémon wanted to do, Upright supposed, was help. The quilava missed his own opportunity by hundreds of years, when Annihilation came. Doggy gave his friend a quizzical look, then smiled knowingly, as if acknowledging that he made the right choice.

While Doggy watched Upright, another figure in the background watched them both. The giant figure blended right in to the crowd of dispersing spectators, leaning against a post that creaked under his large weight. He flipped the twig in his mouth over, taking note of where the three ran off to.

~~~III~~~

"So, pokémon like to scrap?'" Upright asked the poochyena. "Eh, I hit my head earlier and some memories got jumbled." After deciding the main road was overstimulating both of them, Doggy dragged them onto Skinnyblock Street. Compared to Treasure Street, it was a glorified alleyway. Several windows, which existed to filter air rather than provide any sort of view, speckled the dusty houses.

The poochyena started to give an answer, but was interrupted when Doggy leaped in front of him. A door swung open, and a pokémon sauntered out. A few steps closer and the door would have smacked right into the wolf-dog's face.

"Wow, how dangerous," the wild pokémon said, forgetting his answer. "I avoid this danger usually – it's the fastest way to the best smells, however. Thank you and have a nice day."

"I happened to get hit once," Doggy complained. "The splinters on my face sorta looked like whiskers. By the way – what's your name?"

This turned out to be a hard question. "Is it _poochyena_?" The wolf-dog guessed doubtfully. Doggy gave him an encouraging smile. "I missed my naming ceremony..."

Upright patted his back helpfully. "No worries. Doggy and I didn't have names, till we named each other-"

"You can name pokémon?" The poochyena asked excitedly. "Do me, do me!"

The insistence got under the quilava's skin, making him nervous. Doggy agreed to his name out of kindness for Upright, and vice versa. The quilava wanted to decline, yet was so startled by the sudden responsibility that a name simply slipped. "Marker," he blurted.

"Gah-hoh?!" Doggy choked down a guffaw. " _Marker,_ Upright? You sure that's a good quality to point out?"

The poochyena cocked his head to the side. "Hm… I love it! Thanks, namer! I thought the Wild Committee had the only namers. That's what my handlers said."

Upright assumed that namers, and the 'Wild Committee' at large, were other pokémon who helped new arrivals assimilate. "Thanks, but..." he took another look at Marker's smile. "No problem, Marker," Upright siged.

"The Wild Committee has branches in every village and major city," Doggy said, mostly to himself. "Every wild pokémon is assigned to a solo handler or a duo of handlers. How could they forget to name you, ceremony or no?"

Marker looked down guiltily. "My handlers gave me the wrong directions to the ceremony," he answered. "Now if I want to rejoin their pack – their program," Marker amended."I have to pay a… what was it… oh! A reentry fee..."

The poochyena collapsed with a heavy whine.

"Hey!" Upright cried. "Doggy, is he okay? That was a nasty scrap, back there." Marker looked healthy a moment ago, beside his wounds. The wild pokémon hid his illness so well, Upright had no idea of his suffering.

The growlithe looked utterly disgusted with the dirty walls closing them in. "When was the last time you had enough money to eat?" Doggy asked.

"Almost a week," was the answer. "I have another payment tonight. So that makes a whole week."

"Let's ditch this city," Doggy pleaded. "I have a friend who would be happy to feed you for free."

"But!" Marker retorted. "Even so I want to run wild again… I _really_ want to live in the city with all the interesting smells. It's okay if I go hungry. I went just as long without food when I ran with my pack."

This wasn't simply skipping a few meals. Whatever this reentry fee consisted of, it was starving the poor creature to death. Upright opened his mouth to complain, but noticed that Doggy was shaking. The growlithe had something to far more important to say.

Doggy leaned in toward the poochyena's face. "You idiot!" He barked. "Those handlers are robbing you blind. Missing some stupid ceremony… do you really think the Wild Committee would punish you like this? _There is no reentry fee!_ "

"T-The handler I first met was nice, so they must all be. Correct?" Marker argued feebly. The words fit in amidst an awful revelation: the handlers Marker trusted to help him had swindled him instead. Slowly, the poochyena adopted a vicious snarl. "No. No I do not."

Just then, the same door that stopped them earlier swung open again. Giving an angry howl, Marker lunged forward and ripped off a chunk. The pokémon trying to leave its home wailed and fled back to the safety of their slummy house. Panicking, Upright leaped forward and tried to stop the rampaging creature. Marker changed his focus to the Upright, burying his fangs in the quilava's shoulder.

At first, Upright stared on in horror. Then he became aware of the long, white fangs trembling inside of him. Pain came next and blotted out his ability to see, or breathe, or even wave to Doggy for help. He had hardly walked Pokéarth for a wekk, yet felt, at that moment, that his time doing so was coming to a brutal end. The pain was unimaginable.

Then, as if by magic, the pain turned into exhilaration. Upright took control of his hind legs and kicked Marker right in the lower stomach. As the leverage between the two pokémon flipped, Upright removed the teeth in his shoulder with a desperate wail. He scooted till his fur brushed against the wall. His arms were raised, claws out as their owner panted, praying that Marker came to his senses.

Doggy helped the poochyena settle down. With a bucking kick from his own hind legs, Doggy sent Marker rolling down Skinnyblock. He trounced the starving pokémon, pinning him with ease.

"I didn't want to hurt you," Doggy swore. "But if you want to survive here, your instincts have to take a backseat to your wits!"

"I am so angry!" Marker caterwauled. "They preyed on me like I was a rabbit without its ears!"

Using the wall, Upright managed to push himself up. He couldn't help it: when he saw blood leaking from his shoulder, he had to clutch a protruding piece of rock to keep from fainting. What had Doggy said? That pokémon _enjoyed_ bleeding?

Doggy relented, sucking in the musty air of the alley as he stepped back. "Your first scrap, Upright. For a moment, I thought you froze up. But you handled yourself well, all things considered."

"Thanks," Upright said. "I'm bleeding-"

"Not a problem," the growlithe interrupted. "The blood of pokémon is an all-purpose substance. It can be used as a cleaning agent, fertilizer… even as an ingredient for the best medicines – it will speed up your recovery by simply matting into your fur."

Upright looked at his injury, then Marker's own gash. The migtyena's wound was about healed. "Really..."

"And in terms of shampoo…" Doggy smiled. "The top of the line product uses the blood of great warriors as a replacement for sap. No matter where you live or who you are, the excitement of battle will get to you. It's become a point of honor. Many stores – including restaurants," he added slyly, "offer discounts to active fighters."

Marker's stomach growled. He looked away, ashamed to have gone feral on poor Upright.

A coin-pursed from Doggy's bad dangled from his teeth. "Speaking of restaurants… I could use a pick-me-up. Want to come along?" Doggy asked the poochyena. "I'm buying this time."

As much as he disliked the notion of taking scraps, Marker had no choice. He rose sloppily to his feet, making himself scarce as he passed the destroyed door.

The quilava had managed to escape a pin, whereas Doggy put the poochyena out with one kick. The growlithe met eyes with Upright, and the admiration they had for uneven deeds were equal.

"Sorry, pal," Doggy said. "I might drag you into a real mess. But a genius strider can't ignore the problems right under his nose."

"When I was attacked then," Upright told him, "my pain turned into sheer excitement. If we get in trouble, I promise to not freeze up. Not if that poochyena's really being starved by a couple of con artists."

"Goh-hoh-hoh!" Doggy cackled. "There are two sorts of death-seeker in this crazy world. Those who seek it..." even as his voice remained mirthful, his eyes darkened. "And those who merely ask for it without knowing. Well! You can think of where these handlers lie while we eat some yummy grub. This eatery is gonna _shock_ you."

"Uh-huh," Upright grunted. They followed Marker, who was desperately pacing around the exit to the alley. Upright could use a little sunlight himself, he realized.

~~~II~~~

Every hour of starvation was obvious on Marker's face as he tore apart a whole chicken. Not cooked chicken, not grilled chicken, not fried chicken… Upright kept his ears flopped in order to block out the live chicken's squawking.

"I love live eateries!" Doggy shouted, turning a few heads. A few mumbled in agreement, digging in. "The energy of several dozen pokémon sharing fresh prey in a single place – it puts a passion in this death-seeker's heart."

"I don't share your passion," Upright admitted. The growlithe told him not to order till he was sure. The worst was when a newcomer to the eatery got cold feet, allowing their dinner to escape... and live eateries use a strict _no refund_ policy.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Marker repeated, licking his chops clean. "It reminds me of hunting with my pack. I feel like a new pokémon!"

Doggy slammed the table with both paws. The owner of the restaurant, a massive bear with lunar patches of yellow fur (an ursaring, Doggy claimed), kept a special eye on the troublemaker. "This marks the moment you took charge of your life," he said. "There is no god out there to save us, so we must make our own way. Goh-hoh-hoh!"

Marker joined in, copying the strange laugh. "Gah-hee-hee!"

"No, no," Doggy said through a mouthful of chicken. "Goh-hoh-hoh."

The two nodded, then laughed. The synchronicity was downright shocking.

The ursaring looked over again. Upright gave him a look that begged forgiveness, then slumped under the table. What a role-model Marker chose...

A long arm slammed a screaming chicken down on the table, right in front of Upright. "Gah?" The quilava squeaked. The ursaring nodded to him encouragingly. "N-No thanks..."

"At Gastro's Live Eatery," the ursaring declared, "you eat or give up your spot. Don't be afraid of the chicken, pal. Dull animals aren't like the rest of us. Grab a hold of it." Gastro released the chicken. Seeing it pick up speed for a leap, Upright grabbed it instinctively, as if the chicken was a glass of water about to tip over the edge. The sensation of the live creature felt foreign in his strong paws. He could feel its pulse falter, then quicken.

Upright began to tear up. "I-I would like to go now..."

Gastro huffed and put a paw on his shoulder, preventing him from rising. "Calm down, youngster. There's a polite way to do it – just like eating an artichoke."

"Yum, artichokes!" Doggy tacked on. Not helpful in the slightest.

The instruction began: "hold it straight up."

With the strength of a pokémon clutching its neck, the chicken had no chance of escape. While sniffling, Upright caught on to the pungent sent of fresh meat. He inspected the doomed animal curiously.

"Next," Gastro said, "twist the neck until you hear a little _pop_."

The chicken grew tired of struggling the moment Upright stretched out its neck. It gave him a very sad look with its beady eyes. On the other hand... Upright hadn't eaten protein since he arrived in Pokéarth. After days upon days of berries and fruits, the smell of meat was intoxicating. "So sorry," he whispered, wrenching his paws until the _pop_ came. How bad could it be?

For his effort, he received a clap on the back from Gastro. "Attaboy," the chef said. "Now, I ain't cruel enough to make you go to the bones. You eat the parts you're comfortable with, and leave the rest to one of your friends." That excited the growlithe and poochyena more than it should.

"Okay," Upright said. Did he really just kill his own food? The fatty body of the chicken waited, slumped over in his paws. He laid it out on the table. And – he still couldn't believe himself – started to bite daintily into the stomach. Warm blood leaked onto his tongue. "N-Not bad, after the feathers."

"See you around, kid," the ursaring said.

"Wait!" Doggy called. "You were very helpful. Why?"

Gastro chuckled. "Repeat customers," he answered bluntly, pointing his nose at the quilava.

Doggy jumped in surprise; Upright was tearing into the chicken as if searching for a prize in the offal of the animal. It seemed more like exploratory surgery than lunch at an eatery. Some parts tasted awful to the quilava, but he tore into everything regardless, appreciating the curious tastes.

"Plus," Gastro said to the gaping growlithe, "I owe a lot to the Adventure Initiative. Least I can do is introduce their newbies to the thrill of the hunt. That chicken's on the house." He waved one last time before attending to an impatient party at the front of his little restaurant.

After Upright finished eating, Marker whined loudly. The quilava left very little of his lunch: just the legs and posterior remained untouched. And, alongside that, Upright had a very strange reaction to completing his first meal.

" _S-S-S-So gross, not like an artichoke at all!_ " Upright sobbed. "I just ate guts! I b-bit into the brain. Which tasted a lot better than the heart… aiyee, g-gross!" He bounced around in front of the table, muzzle steeped in chicken blood. For all his complaining, the meal had a revitalizing effect for the quilava.

"You look like an angry kit," Doggy told him, unable to contain his chortling. "Marker, can you calm our friend down, while I clear up a mistake?"

"What mistake?" Marker asked, pawing at the mess Upright made. For a picky eater, the quilava sure made a mess.

"Gastro mistook us for newbies from the Adventure Initiative," Doggy explained. "Which can lead others to assume we're impersonators. Which leads to a bunch of burly creatures pummeling us. You guys couldn't help it, what with the green look on your faces and those wounds. Still, we must pay for Upright's chicken." Doggy left to talk to the ursaring.

Marker himself looked renewed. He nudged the quivering quilava. "While you were digging in," he said meekly, "Doggy asked where my handlers meet me for payments. Does he plan to fight them?"

The thought of it sobered Upright. "Y-Yeah," he replied, nodding.

"Can I come?" Marker asked. A hint of a snarl formed on his muzzle and his nose wrinkled.

"Of course. I have no idea – er, no _recollection_ of a real fight. Doggy needs someone who's useful in a pinch."

The last comment made the poochyena's eyes widen. " _Useful_ … when I was in a pack, I thought words were weak. But that one makes me shiver!"

Upright gave his the wild pokémon a warm smile. "By the way," he hummed, turning his nose up in thought. "What's the Adventure Initiative?"

Marker's jaw became firm with respect. "There are many great packs in Pathen. The Wilds Committee is one who promised to help wild pokémon, but did not. The Adventurer Initiative goes Outside."

"Outside?" Upright wanted more information. "The place outside the Territory."

"Of course!

A bolt of purpose shot through Upright's heart. "Doggy took me on a run to the boundary of the Territory," he said, remembering it warmly. He remembered the air churning in his strong lungs, the way that every muscle and tendon in his body worked together to push him forward. The memory of his own heartbeat thrummed in his sensitive ears, making them prickle. "We saw a green, coiled dragon soaring over the Valley that Goes on Forever. Do members of this pack really go 'Outside?'"

"A dragon?" Marker mused. "Yes, I saw it up close once."

At that moment, Doggy was humbly accepting Gastro's generosity. His honesty impressed the ursaring so much, the chef decided to waive the price of their whole meal. The growlithe was in the middle of a deep bow when a crash rose above the ruckus.

" _Tell me!"_ Upright barked, slamming the table again. "I have to know!"

"W-Well, I was hunting for food," Marker whimpered nervously. The sudden passion stunned him. "Like most packs, we roam only inside the Territory. A doe fled through the boundary to the Outside. I chased her despite the warnings of my pack-leader, because I am a prideful poochyena. I killed the doe paces across the boundary! I was very happy and making much noise! Then… then… the green dragon swooped in from the sky, eating my prey in a single chomp. It swooped a second time, inspecting me with its yellow eyes!"

A few diners quit eating. Apparently, many of them either knew about the dragon, or loved a good tale.

Gastro came up, arms folded. "You might not be in the Initiative, but you sure do embellish like a true recruit," he accused.

"No," Marker stated. "I tell the truth. Very confident, I demanded a price for my kill. He gave me a prize."

"What did the dragon give you?" Upright asked quietly.

The poochyena turned away. The wild roughness of his voice cracked in fear as he answered.

" _My life,"_ Marker said. The restaurant fell into a stunned silence. Only the screeching of prey remained. " _Another serious bloke_ , that's what he growled as he flew away. His voice became loud at the end. It stole my hearing away for many hours."

Crackles of electricity rippled through Upright's fur. He had trouble breathing. The envy he experienced knocked him off his feet. "I… I want to meet the dragon," Upright said.

"You ought to learn how to stomach a chicken first," Gastro taunted.

"All the same," the quilava said wistfully. "The dragon sounds like he has a curious sense of humor..."

Doggy sighed. "Pal, you ought to be careful what you wish for. Besides! We have a date with a couple friends at Nodrink Lane. You'll get to see the river that flows through the city. Sapphire River's kept its color, despite being smack-dab in the center of Pathen. That shoulder of yours good?"

Upright inspected his bite wound. Other than a bit of puffiness under the fur, it was healed. "All good," he said. They rose, thanked Gastro for the free meal, and started their way to Nodrink Lane. "By the way," he mentioned to Marker, "sorry for yelling at you. Whenever I hear about the Outside, I get a strange feeling. I think when I was a human, your sort of stories were all I ever dreamed about." Upright noticed the slip-up; his paws flew up to his mouth.

The poochyena stopped in his tracks. "Human?" His ears flopped and his head titled to the side. "That would explain a lot. You're more curious than a whelp!"

The reaction was unexpected. Maybe Marker's life as a wild pokémon prepared him for strange things? Between all the excitement, Upright never considered if he wanted to let others know his origin. For the most part, he lied up to this point.

Thankfully, he had a quick-witted friend to help him out. "Looks like Upright trusts you," Doggy said merrily. "Take it as a complement – becoming his friend is no small feat. Even I, a genius strider, struggled! Goh-hoh-hoh!"

"Goo-har-har!" Marker shot back.

"Grr, forgot it already? Listen up: _Goh. Hoh. Hoh._ "

Marker circled around the growlithe as they walked. "So what are you? A genius strider or a death-seeker?"

"...Both. And don't you _ever_ ask me such a silly question again!" Doggy playfully cuffed the poochyena.

There wasn't any need to add to Doggy's sentiments. Upright smiled to himself, amused by their play-fighting.

~~~III~~~

"Any moment now," Marker whispered. "I meet them here on the dock, to give them my pay for the day. Then the stronger one makes me say _thank you, have a nice day!_ It is a civilized welcome, I heard."

"What a beautiful river," Upright said.

The Sapphire River shone in the moonlight. Its sandy bottom, visible through the clear water, made it as if the riverbed was lined with stardust. The city at night quieted, and many pokémon went into their homes. Nocturnal creatures brought new scents to Pathen, along with the sweet smell of clean water and the stench of oil in burning lanterns.

Doggy nudged him. "Eyes on the prize," he reminded the quilava. Upright nodded and kept low to the ground, just as Doggy instructed. The dusty floor rubbed against his stomach. "I want to make sure of what we're dealing with. This might be a misunderstanding."

"You don't believe me?" Marker asked, strung.

"I do!" Doggy exclaimed. "But these handlers might be getting pushed around by someone else. They might be stealing your money under duress."

"Biting them solves my problem, though."

"You need to think of the bigger picture," the growlithe argued. He crouched lower to the ground. "That won't solve _the_ problem. When a genius strider helps, they help _all the way!_ It's nighttime, so you ought to wait for them." Upright was impressed by his friend's sense of justice. Had Doggy challenged ne'er-do-wells in the past?

Marker nodded. "Good idea – the one time I was late, they were furious. You will know it's them if one reeks of ammonia and the other gives off a bad vibe. Bad vibe is very tough." The poochyena took in a deep breath and stalked out to the empty dock. The dock's function, from what Upright could surmise, was to transport pokémon across the river. Marker sat down and started to preen himself anxiously.

"These handlers are clever," Doggy growled. "The ferry operates for both diurnal and nocturnal pokémon. There is a ten-minute pause where neither operate… the perfect time to exploit someone."

Upright tried to relieve the tension. "We'll teach them a lesson the same way Marker told off that bidoof."

Doggy shook his head. "No, we won't. I didn't want you to panic, but some pokémon inside the city are truly foul. We might end up seriously injured, Upright."

Hours prior, Doggy told him the city was safe. Was this what safety meant to a pokémon? Then again, they sought out the danger…

"If you want to run, do it before the battle, not during," Doggy told him. "If you do stay and we start to lose, and you have a choice to either counterattack or flee… choose the latter." It took no words for Doggy to understand the flash of determination in the quilava's eyes. "You won't listen, will you? I can tell from your eyes. Your passion is so quiet. No one could ever tell without knowing you."

Just then, voices came from the dock. The loudest was Marker's.

It was like the poochyena promised: a foul-smelling skunk pokémon and a strangely shaped creature with bulbous pink legs. Another joined these two, however.

"Ventor?!" Marker cried. The bidoof nodded solemnly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry to inform you of a new setback," the pink-legged pokémon growled. She had a forceful voice. Her mark was more foreboding than Ventor or the skunk – she was the ring-leader for sure. "You incurred a fine when you attacked your boss. He is graciously allowing you to keep your job… it will take _months_ to pay your dues, poochyena."

Knowing his friends were nearby made the poochyena brave. "No."

"What do you mean, no?" Ventor hissed.

"Pokémon fight all the time. It's a good thing to fight!"

"Not for a dirty pack animal like you!" The stunky snapped. Marker backed away slowly. The stench of ammonia hung in the air. "The Wild Committee is your one chance of being accepted. Otherwise, no one will _ever_ love you!"

"Then what does that make us?" Doggy cried, leaping out from their hiding place. "Daydreams?!" The handlers stepped back, along with their conspiring shopkeeper. It was time to help! Upright stumbled out to the dock. He dropped to all fours as he ran.

"D-Damn it," Ventor spat. "It's that lot who led our schmuck away! I just knew you incorrigible punks would ruin a good setup."

Upright stepped forward. "What did you gain from this?" He said. "You're cheating him of the same money you used to pay him."

Doggy shook his head. "Not exactly. The Wild Committee gives stipends to any merchants who take on wild workers. Many are glad to help on their own," he spat. "Every now and then… there's opportunists."

This earned a few chuckles from the trio. "You sure know what's up," the skunk taunted, "for a mutt. I can smell the forest on you from over here. Guess you're just as homeless as your friend."

"Grr!" Marker joined Doggy's side. "How do you smell anything? You are so stinky." The stunky snorted dismissively.

"And you, medicham, have no honor!" Doggy said. The pink-legged creature took the insult harshly. "Where has your instinct to help others gone?"

Ventor answered for her. "These self-sacrificing traits you two have… are detrimental to your _fitness!_ Tank, Sweets, get rid of them!" The bidoof sprinted up the steps to the dock, making his escape. Before Upright could give chase, the two handlers started to close in.

Upright realized with mounting horror that they had their sights focused on him. When Marker attacked him, his fighting instinct came out. Unlike his friends, however, he couldn't summon that instinct on demand yet. And the two dangerous pokémon could tell!

A shout from Doggy helped jump-start his instincts. The stunky, Tank, came rolling in with his short-yet-quick claws. A few strokes and Upright would be ribbons. The quilava leaped out of the way and bared his fangs. Even if his instincts were slow, he still knew how to bite!

"Wait," Doggy cried, "Don't bite-"

It was too late. What seemed like a opportunity was a ruse; Tank had opened his back up to a bite on purpose. Upright got an awful taste in his mouth. The stench became a thousand times worse, and he started to gag. For a lack of options, he refused to let go. Bile rose up into his throat.

"I taste worse than the worst carrion!" Tank bragged. "You won't be getting rid of that taste for weeks."

The medicham, Sweets, closed in on Upright. Before she could deal a brutal blow to the stunned quilava, Marker swooped in. With a vicious leap, the poochyena made contact with her shoulder. Then he spun in midair, slamming the handler into the ground. It was a great deer-killing move. But Sweets absorbed the slam by rolling away, then she kicked at Marker, who rolled with the blow to reduce its damage. The two moved farther down the dock.

Tank started to back away, dragging Upright with him. "Hey, you're still holding on? Let go!"

His choice to hold on caused the stunky to panic! Doggy's words rung in his mind: _if you want to survive here, your instincts have to take a backseat to your wit!_ Upright doubled down. It was just a taste, after all.

The stubbornness paid off: distracted by a measly bite, Tank didn't notice the growlithe descending on him from above. Doggy pounded the handler's head with his forelegs. Tank backed up again, reeling from the blow.

"No one swindles my friends," Doggy growled. He crouched, focusing himself. Upright hopped up onto Tank's back, locking him in place. Was Upright about to see the technique his friend mentioned in the forest?

"Y-You're a stupid kit!" Tank argued as if the semantics mattered, or he was much older himself. "You can't possibly – no, wait a moment..."

Somehow, the energy coming from Doggy managed to hit all five of Upright's senses. In none were they concrete, yet in all they were present. The growlithe's eyes shot open as he flew forward.

"Fury swipes!" He roared.

 _Swipe-swipe-swipe._ Tank flew flew back and forth as Doggy landed consecutive blows. The speed… Upright couldn't help but gape. The growlithe was faster than ever!

"Not like this!" Tank wailed through a bloodied maw. He ducked down in order to avoid more abuse.

Doggy hopped into the air, landing on the stunky's head. He made the handler eat wooden plank.

When Tank rose up, wood chips jutted from his cheeks like whiskers. "It was Sweets's idea," he begged. "All… Sw-Sweets's..." he slumped over, unable to fight.

"Attaboy Upright," Doggy huffed. "You didn't play in to your senses."

Upright bowed his head. "That's nothing compared to your secret move-"

A loud yelp interrupted him. There was still another handler to deal with!

"Stupid… mutt!" Sweets screamed, kicking Marker in the stomach. The exhausted poochyena allowed it with nothing but a yowl in protest. Seeing an opening to finish the fight, she took it: with a spurious punt, Sweets sent Marker flying into the water. Upright could see the wild pokémon sink to the floor. Like he sank in Native Lake...

Then the medicham moved to confront the other two. "I won't allow you to have him. Even if you escape and report us, no one will be alive to give testimony!"

Doggy hobbled forward. The growlithe saw Sweets raise her foot. With a pang of horror, he realized he had no chance of getting past. "I used too much on my attack… no, no!" Things were becoming dire. Marker's struggles under the water became frenzied. "Dang it, Upright. We'll go at once! Whoever slips through saves Marker!"

"Aw, how cute, you named him!" Sweets laughed at their horrified faces. "Splitting up won't work. I can take you both out at once – eh?"

Upright took a few steps forward, then turned his back on the medicham. As their odds worsened, a fierce heat had grown on his back. His new body insisted that he direct this heat at something before it became unbearable. Who better than this disappointent?

"Kid, you won't distract me for a second," Sweets bragged. "I-"

" _Get away!"_ Upright shrieked. He tensed his back.

Embers erupted from Upright, bursting forward in waves of piping-hot sparks. Too sure of herself, Sweets wasn't ready to dodge. She shrieked as well, trying to pat out the many fires blooming on her body.

Doggy made a mad sprint for the water. Even covered in hot embers, the desperate medicham moved to stop him. Upright tightened up, doubling the output. Then, from one moment to the next, Sweets found herself enveloped in fire. The embers had connected together to make a fully-fledged blaze – she took too long to get out of the way.

"Stop," Sweets choked out. "I yield!"

The horrified voice brought Upright back to his senses. The overwhelming urge to defend himself faded. Instead, he turned around. With a firm push, he sent the scorched pokémon into the water. Luckily for Sweets, she floated.

At the same time, Doggy surfaced with Marker. Spotting the handler, he kicked eagerly towards a ramp protruding into the river. Despite his best attempts to keep Marker's head above water, the unconscious pokémon kept slipping under the surface.

Upright ran over to the ramp and helped them u. Doggy snorted some water out of his nose.

"I saw him swallow water," he said hastily. "I never saved a drowning pokémon before, I have no idea what to do next..." the poochyena looked very lifeless. Doggy whined and pawed the poochyena eagerly.

"I have an idea," Upright replied, putting his paws on Marker's chest. He started to push up and down. "I will push the water out!" After a few pumps, Marker retched, coughing up water. Upright continued with renewed vigor.

"I didn't get involved just to see you die," Doggy growled. "Come on..."

With one large push, Marker returned to the world of the living. He scraped the dock with his feet, gasping. After the initial surge of life, the poochyena fell quiet, sucking in the cold air.

Doggy seemed crazed with relief. "Note to self: teach Marker how to swim."

Despite everything, Upright found a hearty chuckle to give. "We can take him to the lake by Gr- _her_ house." After all this, the wilds of the Territory seemed far more preferable to Pathen.

Before they could make their plans, something caught their attention. Doggy started to sniff the air. "Water and that stunky's messing with my sniffer. Do you smell that, Upright?"

The quilava did. It was Ventor's scent, mixed with an unfamiliar smell. "I… I think Ventor brought another thug."

Doggy rose up angrily. "Bring it on. I still have tons of fight left in me!"

"I decline," a voice called down to them. A massive silhouette overtook them from the street. It raised its arm, coaxing a flinch out of Upright.

 _Thud._ Ventor, beaten unconscious, tumbled along the dock.

"Whoa," Doggy gasped. "You did this? Good looking out… thanks a lot!"

The figure put a foot out over the ledge, then chose to use the stairs instead. Such a large beast would put a hole in the dock if it jumped. The river reflected the moonlight, making it easier to see the newcomer as he approached. He was humongous, with tufts of white fut covering his wide belly. A twig stuck out from his mouth – their helper had a stoic-yet-amused look on his face.

"No need to thank me," the giant grunted.

Upright shook his head. "If Ventor escaped, it would be his word against ours. It might still be..."

"Good point." The newcomer flipped his twig. It was a very precise and habitual movement. "Thankfully, an adventurer's opinion has much weight."

"You're from the Initiative?!" Doggy asked.

The adventurer huffed. "Guilty."

" _S-So cool!_ Marker, wake up already! There's a ginormous pangoro from the Initiative, I feel so humbled..." Doggy bowed to the adventurer. How could the growlithe be so excited, when his friend Grace robbed the Initiative?

"Name's Khridoli. It's a pleasure." The pangoro leaned over the water. He scooped up Sweets, inspected the wounded creature. "I hate to kill such a genial mood, but you three ought to know: I've been tailing you since that scuffle in Treasure Street."

Doggy's mood changed in a heartbeat. "Wait… since _noon..._ You watched our fight, then. Marker was _drowning!_ Why didn't an adventurer like you come to help?"

"You had it handled," Khridoli answered bluntly.

"No offense, but that's not good enough!" Doggy shot back. "What if we were incapable. By the time you realized, Marker would be a goner."

"For us land-dwellers, it's okay to take on some water. Provided it gets shoved out later. Your friend had minutes of time. There was no real danger."

The sentiment disappointed Upright, somehow. Doggy was too incredulous to speak, so he took over. "Why'd you follow us?"

"Had an itch you three were applicable." Khridoli gestured to the medicham. "That's some roast, kid. You must be proud of yourself."

That word, _applicable…_ "I-Is that a good job?" Upright asked, trying to save his assumptions.

"Are you modest or stupid?" Khridoli chuckled. "Of course it's a fine job. You're paces beyond the average in the technique department. In fact, all three of you surprised me."

"You keep talking like we're being tested," Doggy spat. "This was real life. Marker was being abused by his handlers. Whether you wanted to test us or not, as an advent- eep." The rest of that insult fizzled off when the pangoro took a long step forward.

"Don't ruin a good moment," Khridoli growled threatningly. "Save your bleeding heart for another time. Too many good deeds go unseen, the benefactors gone before we can get a trace. With orientation so close, you're the sort of potential recruits I like to see."

Doggy gaped. "P-Potential… recruits. You want to recruit us to the Initiative." Not good. Grace was likely rolling around in her bed, tortured by a nightmare kind of like this.

Khridoli nodded. "Yup. Scores of pokémon sign up at our base of operations to be tested. Yet we always have an eye open for unlisted."

"Unlisted?" The growlithe said. His anger seemed forgotten, for the moment. For Doggy to not know something!

"Pokémon who ought to be going Outside, but haven't signed up for one reason or another..The three of you clicked together like a true team. You all fit the bill – chicken-eating habits aside," Khridoli added tauntingly. Upright didn't notice the remark. He was too busy trembling.

Doggy swirled his paw around on the wood. "This is all so sudden. Marker hasn't even woke up yet-"

"I'm in!" Upright answered.

"Upright?!" Doggy yelped. "Wanna give that some thought?"

"I did," the quilava said. "I know the stakes. But I won't be able to cope with who I am inside the Territory. I want to see everything Pokéarth has to offer, because anything less and I'll never understand who I am as a pokémon." Upright tried to keep his origin hidden, but also get his point across to the concerned growlithe. "I want to visit the green dragon for a chat. I want to explore Cutter's Alley, not Skinnyblock Alley."

Something gave Doggy pause before, but the quilava's confidence shattered that last bit of hesitation. The words put a fire in his heart."As a genius strider and a death-seeker," he announced, "I ought to be embarrassed! The real challenge is Outside. You're right, Upright, one-thousand percent right!"

Khridoli chewed his twig thoughtfully. "Chat with a dragon... strange goal, though I've heard worse. You're fine too, growlithe, as long as that _death-seeking_ is just a shtick. And that leaves your wild friend. He seems conscious enough for a life-altering decision."

Upright hadn't noticed that Marker was very much awake. He was panting, a wide grin on his face. Seeing his friends alive and well meant he was liberated from those awful handlers. Would that freedom make him hesitant to get shackled to the Initiative?

"I go with my new pack," was his answer. The words warmed Upright's heart.

"Then it's decided," Khridoli grunted. "We'll bunk at an inn for the night while I sort these ne'er-do-wells out. Come morning, you three will pass through the Timestop as u _nlisted_."

~~~II~~~

 _You clicked together like a team._ The words echoed in Upright's head. He repeated them, testing them out. Did they?

Khridoli bought them a room in a high-end inn. At least, Upright took notice of an actual bed in his room, accompanied by a lit hearth. Not wanting to break bank renting three rooms for a single night, the pangoro requested they all share a bed. There were certainly wide enough, but…

Doggy kept to himself on the corner of the bed, yet overtook the room with his snoring. It was a chronic grind that drowned out the relaxing crackles of the fire, it sounded like the growlithe was choking this time around.

Even so, Upright's body fought for its night of rest. The quilava curled up, shutting his eyes.

 _Thud_. Upright yelped and looked around. One moment he was drifting off, the next he was on the floor.

"Sorry," Marker whispered. He was half-awake, licking his chops sleepily. "I am an active sleeper."

"It's okay," Upright lied. _Active sleeper…_ what did that even mean?

Maybe an hour would help his friends settle in. Upright left their room and went downstairs. Several nocturnal pokémon were enjoying a nighttime meal. A few nodded to him, and Upright nodded back. It seemed like Pathen, in truth, never slept.

"Hello, diurnal," one of the patrons said to him. "Feeling restless?"

He was an upright salamander of sorts, with green skin and sharp foliage sticking out from his arms. His stomach was a cherry red. The mirth in his eyes seemed tricky, but Upright found his scent unassuming. "I might be a light sleeper," Upright replied.

"Perhaps you are a creature of the night. In Pathen, the time you sleep is a lifestyle choice. Those daylight busters don't have a clue, though I can tell you prefer the heat. Come on, enjoy the night life while you can, then – try out some warm cider with rum, on me." The barkeep heard the order and served up the drink. Somehow, the quilava could tell the drink would put a warmth in his belly. A drink to wash the taste of Tank's fur from his mouth sounded great.

.

It would be rude to decline, right? Upright moseyed over to the counter. With a polite bow, he prepared a tiny swig.

The salamander tipped the full drink into his mouth. Upright flailed, swallowing what he could. The taste of the booze helped him forget Tank, certainly. A new fiery feeling took over, plus a drowning sensation.

"Hey!" Upright coughed, wiping off some stray froth. A bit of the cider refused to go down the right pipe. He fell into a painful coughing fit.

"Oops," the salamander called, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Drank it a bit fast there, bud! Let's take you outside before you retch all over the counter. Be right back."

The quilava struggled as the pokémon dragged him outside. The forthcoming creature took him into a thin alley on the side of the inn. Was he being attacked?! Upright focused the heat in his back, trying to trigger his only defense.

"I'll have none of that!" The salamander spat. He slapped Upright upside the head, canceling out the attack. "Quit fighting me, kit. You and I, we have a mutual friend."

"Get off!" Upright growled, still coughing. "Get off of me! Doggy! Marker-"

A claw wrapped around his muzzle. Desperate breaths whistled through his nose. " _We... have… a mutual friend_ ," the pokémon hissed. "Lives in a shack? Makes friends with losers? Do you know her?"

Was he referring to Grace? Upright recalled the way she protested against his visit to Pathen and relaxed slightly. The fur on his back fell, then rose again. Doggy was right about there being a spy, and Grace being a notorious criminal! He even caught a glimpse of the spy at the gate to Pathen – he received a bump from the salamnder for mentioning Grace!

"Good," the spy said. "My name is Daté. See, that's my real name. You can trust me. If I let go, will you scream?"

Upright shook his head. Slowly, the grip around his muzzle loosened. "Grace... sent you?" He panted. "I t-thought you were going to kill me. You dragged me outside and tricked the barkeep..."

Daté shrugged. "She was worried about your visit to the city. In case whatever so-and-so happened, Grace wanted me to issue a warning. Lucky me, to get you alone before that oaf returned."

"What does _so-and-so_ entail?!" Upright asked. "A-Are you going to hurt me for joining the Initiative? Please! I promise to never tell a soul about the cabin!"

"No, whelp! This will upset Grace, sure. Even so, she understands that it's your choice. Too merciful for her own good, in my opinion. Lke I said, I only want to give you a warning."

"O-Okay," Upright said. The salamander leaned in close.

"A while back," Daté whispered, "a pokémon thought it would be good idea to claim he was once human." Upright's eyes widened. He tried to respond, but Daté's arm reached towards his mouth. "he was a loner. No one could dispute his claim, and his adamant attitude won Pathen over. It made for quite the craze in the Adventure Initiative. Teams lavished him with gifts, so they could bring him Outside. Gotta put a bit of his blood in an ancient urn to open a secret path, gotta have him speak to a mural in Cutter's Alley. Et cetera. In fact, I bet more than a few adventurers caught on to his lies, yet said nothing – the liar turned out to be a blast to hang out with! I sure enjoyed the company. It was the best con in pokémon history."

Where was this story leading? It was a _warning_ against admitting his humanity, though the worst consequence seemed to be a few bothersome errands…

"One day, a team of adventurers takes him Outside. There's a dais in a place called Sunstarch. Just some more fun, right? Just another trip to the Outside, you'd think. No." Daté scoffed bitterly. "They disemboweled our lying friend. Laid the entrails on the dais. Nothing opened, of course. Stupid bastards."

Upright gaped. Tears welled in his eyes. What a cruelty it was, to force someone to die for a simple test. " _W-Why?!_ " He asked. Grace's words in the cabin came to him: _Others will find his secret and exploit it, till the benefit of doing so hinges on his life._

"Because he claimed to be human," Daté answered, only echoing what he already knew. "And that made him reek of opportunity. I care little whether you're legit. Human or not… you keep your mouth shut and your eyes peeled. And if you see me around, fulfilling my agenda, you stay far away. Interrupt me or spread Grace's name around, and I _will_ give you the other kind of warning." Daté stated to leave. The suddenness of it all made it hard to think. "Sorry for pushing you around," he called back, his parting words to the shocked quilava.

"I'm sorry for your friend," Upright blurted, more to the darkness of the alley than to the pokémon. "And thank you for the warning. I won't forget it."

Daté stopped for a moment, then leaped into the air. He was gone in an instant, his body and scent vanished as Khridoli rounded the corner. The pangoro caught on to the blindingly fast movement – in a lumbering way, he seemed to be in a real hurry to find the quilava.

"Kid!" Khridoli called, rushing over. "The barkeep said someone dragged you outside. What were you doing down in the lobby?!"

"Couldn't sleep," Upright explained.

"And this fellow, was he with those handlers?"

Upright shook his head solemnly. "No. He wanted to avoid paying his tab," he lied.

"Did you see what he looked like? Do you know his breed?"

"Too dark."

"That sort of leap… you aren't leaving my sight till we reach the Timestop tomorrow," Khridoli decided. It was through this decision that Upright realized just how lucky Daté was. A few minutes later, and he'd have missed his chance to speak with Upright. And the quilava knew, like any danger one can glance back at, that he leaned towards telling Khridoli his story until he heard Daté's cautionary tale.

Because of that, Upright had a promise to make before he returned to the struggle of sharing a bed with Doggy and Marker. "Hey," he said to the adventurer, "I know it's not my place… but I have one condition for joining."

Khridoli, lacking the box of twigs he kept in the inn, ground his teeth instead. "If it's sensible, I'd be glad to oblige."

"You might have heard me say something strange," Upright explained. "Earlier, after lunch."

The pangoro narrowed his eyes. "Yes. Real strange. I was hoping to speak with you in the morning to better understand who you are."

The quilava's heart dropped. "Forget it," he pleaded. "It was just make-believe. I swear. I'm a quilava who… _who_ … hit his head. I have amnesia. Both my friends know I'm scatterbrained so they play along - to make me feel better."

Daté's story seemed universal, or widespread enough for the adventurer to understand the reasoning behind the lie. Khridoli seemed to recognize, too, that the mysterious attacker did more than duck out on a bill. "I can abide for the time being," the pangoro grunted. "You look like you're about to break down. Come on, to bed with you."

Upright followed on the pangoro's tail, trying his best to ignore the dark figure watching him from a nearby roof. The animal in him was very tired of being watched.


	3. Chapter 3: The R&D Warehouse

Once Khridoli had washed off and gathered himself for the battery of tests in the morning, he left his room and found the eager quilava saluting right outside his door.

Upright dropped the salute, then threw it again, for emphasis. "L-L-Leader Khridoli!" he cried. "I know I may have acted strange the night before, but I promise to devote myself to adventuring. Please don't change your mind about me!"

"Huh. No need for words," the pangoro said. He reached for his shelf, pushed up against the wall near his door, and withdrew with a fresh tweed. "Your face makes it plain as day."

"Right! I won't express anything but confidence-"

"Doggy," Khridoli interrupted. "Marker, you too. Come get a load of your friend."

The two stepped out of their room, groggy yet obedient. When the growlithe saw Upright, however, he completely forgot to give respects to the leader. He went belly-up in a heartbeat. Marker, too, buried his snout under his arms. Both tried to cover their laughs, and neither met with much success.

The quilava stepped back. "What is it? Did I get something on my face?!"

"Remember a while back," Doggy answered, "when I warned you about fixating too much? You sorta grew some, uh..."

 _No,_ Upright thought. _That was just a joke, right?_ Upright reached up to his face. His head, mostly his snout, had widened out. All to make room for two pointy tusks. He _swore_ his face felt heavier when he woke up! Weighed down with duty, perhaps – not with _tusks!_

As ignorant of pokémon handsomeness as he was, Upright knew: they were _not_ a flattering addition. A wide snout did little in the way of helping. "Stop laughing!" Upright barked, switching to damage-control.

"I c-c-can't," Marker said. "You look funny."

"Yikes. Oh scary Upright," Doggy intoned, "please don't stick us!"

"You can paralyze prey with laughter!"

"Whoa there, Marker. Mess with the quilava and you get the… tusks?"

"Okay," Khridoli said, "that's enough. Neither of you are real lookers, either."

The quilava had surrendered long ago. He coiled up, trying to hide his shame from the world. "What do I do?"

The pangoro shook his head. "Look, kid, since you're a… an amnesiac, I wanted you to remember this mistake through a bit of teasing. Tusks will throw off the balance of a slender pokémon such as yourself. And they hook into flesh, making it impossible to maneuver after a bite. What if you had tusks yesterday? Your friend Doggy would have had to strike you as well as that stunky. Useless bodily transformations like that are caused by a poor psyche. You're too wound up about adventuring. It won't do when it comes time to present you..."

Too _wound up_. Of course Upright was stressed – he got into a vicious battle, dived headfirst into joining the Initiative, waylaid by a grovyle and _kicked_ senselessly for hours on end because Marker couldn't share a bed if the world depended-

 _Thunk_. Somewhere amid all of the excitement, Upright had a brilliant idea. _Just headbutt something – that will improve things!_ His instincts told him. This genius plan left him stuck by the tusks in the door's wooden frame. He tugged, unable to get free. If he got teased before, he was _really_ going to hear it now.

"Goh-hee! Gee-ha-hee..." Doggy failed to get out his trademark laugh. A desperate wheezing came instead: the scene was just too funny. Marker rolled about the hallway.

Tears started to well up in the quilava's eyes. "I'm sorry, Khridoli. I want to do my best, but I-I'm a wreck."

Khridoli lifted an arm down and tugged Upright out of the door. "Hmm. Your amnesia has made your transformations a little volatile… alright, I think I might have a fix to your predicament. It's worth a shot, at least."

"I'll get the bonesaw!" Doggy cried. Upright's ears fell to the back of his head.

"Enough!" The leader ordered. "You ought to not mock till it hurts. A few jokes help. Dozens of them just sting." The two quieted down, humbled by the reprimand. "Look: do any of you know what goes on at the old wharf?"

Marker perked up. " _Research and Development_! Ventor does bargaining with them. For stuff I can't touch!"

"Those products are for the super-wealthy," Doggy added on. "He could likely afford lining his shelves with R&D goods after he swindled you."

"Ventor will be hauling goods around the Territory once he's processed," Khridoli told them. "Anyway, you're right. What do you know about R&D products, Doggy?"

The growlithe grinned. "Whenever a useful relic is found by the Initiative, they – er, _you_ give it to R &D. They make _orbs_ , basically copies of that relic's power, to sell across the Territory. They also imbue certain effects into scarves. Or just about anything."

Upright was beyond fascinated. "Wait. So you're saying they can take the function of a skylight… and put it into an orb. How is it powered? Which way does the light face? Can one… paint the orb purple to get a purple skylight?" He began to rub his tusks in thought.

As fast as the questions came out, the adventurer shot them down. "Energy from pokémon working in R&D. Opposite of the user. And yes, but if I _ever_ catch you painting my stock of skylight orbs pink the day I set out on an adventure, I swear to Arceus I'll–" the three Unlisted crowded around each other, horrified by the booming tirade. "Sorry. I'm starting to see you three as decent recruits. Yelling at newbies is a force of habit."

"Must have been a momentous prank," Doggy muttered under his breath.

"Feral pokémon are a hard crowd to please!" Khridoli snapped, a hint of a smirk on his face. Then the adventurer switched to his commanding voice. "Enough chit-chat. Stretch away your sores from last night, seek out the latrine, get that sort of stuff out of the way. When we reach the wharf, I want your undivided attention. _One_ slip-up, we turn back and Upright gets nicknamed Tusks in front of scores of potential adventurers."

Upright shot his two friends the best _don't screw this up_ look he could muster.

 _Relics, huh?_ Upright thought, waiting for Doggy to stuff the inn's amenities into his satchel. _That isn't the first time I heard about them. When did I… oh!_

Grace apparently stole relics from the Adventure Initiative. If last night didn't make him a believer, nothing would: that gardevoir was at odds with ginormous Pathen and its hundreds of pokémon. It also reminded Upright of a question itching at him since his encounter with Daté. Since Marker and Khridoli were downstairs, now was his chance to tell him!

"Hey, Doggy?" Upright called.

"Look! A tiny bottle of cheap shampoo, we've hit it big!" Doggy called back. He had a small beige bottle in his maw, and was carrying it to their bag. "Expensive inns are great!"

The quilava sneaked back into the room, dropping his voice. "The spy pulled me into the alley last night." Doggy reacted by swallowing the bottle of shampoo. "Gah. U-Uh, sit still, I'll get it out!."

Before he could approach, his friend had retched it back up. It rolled across the floor, slobbered up. " _What?"_ Doggy yelped. "Upright, we have to get away! We can use the window to ditch… sorry, I'm not helping." He titled his head. "This morning, you didn't seem very worried about joining. What did the spy say to you?"

"Somehow, she's fine with all of this," Upright said, referring to Grace. "I wanted to ask real quick, though… Doggy, why do _you_ know Grace? Do you steal relics?"

"Like I would be a match for a seasoned adventurer," Doggy answered, growing sombre. "Her gang would bury the relics in special spots. I'd deliver them to a special place." The mention of a special place interested Upright, but he knew better than to ask. If last night proved anything, it was that Daté could be within earshot and they'd never know it.

Instead, the quilava asked: "are you going to be okay in the Initiative? Will anyone recognize you?"

"Of course not. I'm a genius strider who-"

"I get it, I get it," Upright said. "Thank you, Doggy. You could have left last night. You decided to stay."

The growlithe shook his head. "No. Thank you, Upright. The Initiative is very rigorous. I wasn't… I wasn't sure I could make it Outside that way. So I thought it best to wait until Grace recruited me… silly, huh? I could make it through training with my eyes closed – I'm a death-seeker, after all!"

 _A lack of confidence?_ Upright thought. _The way Doggy acts, who would even guess?_

The glimpse Upright received felt incredibly private – more so than their talk about Grace. So the quilava walked over, put the shampoo into the satchel, and gave Doggy a bright smile.

"We should get going," he said. The growlithe nodded.

~~~3~~~

"Wow! The Scar Sea looks amazing from this view," Upright said.

"Don't get in a tizzy," Khridoli huffed. "Try to keep your mark where it is, if you can."

 _How does he expect me to keep calm?_ The wharf was a massive pier jutting out into the Scar Sea – or, rather, into the ocean. It was sort of like a gigantic shed, built from peachy stone that shone as if the place was built yesterday. One of its large shed doors was swung open, kept in place by an unserviced, rusty anchor. The freshness of it stunned him – after the forest, it was twice-over. Pokéarth was a beautiful place.

"Hundreds of years ago, this held the largest ship known to recorded history." Khridoli explained as they slowly moseyed over to the wharf. "That ship was lost to Kyogre, and now R&D has hunkered down in the shell. Better than leaving it abandoned. Not much better, though - R&D causes its fair share of problems for me to solve… and the ocean doesn't improve the stenches."

Marker stepped forward and sniffed the air. "Smells like experimentation!" He exclaimed happily.

"Will _they_ be using the bonesaw?" Doggy asked.

Khridoli shot him a warning glance, but it fell quick as the adventurer grew distant."You two. I want you to take some money and go to the bathhouse on Krook Street"

Doggy frowned. "Hey… I wanna go to the freakshow."

"Tomorrow is a big day and I need everyone presentable. Upright will join you after we're done here." Khridoli reached into his bag and removed a pouch of money. Doggy's eyes lit up – first with awe, then confusion. "Go crazy. It's a real spa, that bathhouse – they'll massage last night's scuffle right out of you."

The growlithe was already running off, hounding Marker down the path. " _So cool!_ " He shouted. "Thanks."

Marker perked up, looking back at the dock. "Wait a minute. I hate baths." It was all he could get out before Doggy started tugging on the scruff of his neck. Last night probably didn't help that opinion. "Grr, grr…. You'll never get me in the water."

They were gone. Khridoli turned to the wide plaza leading to the wharf. He waited, chewing on his tweed. After a minute or so of silence, Upright couldn't wait any longer. "E-Excuse me?" He said. "What's wrong?"

Khridoli turned to him, scowling. "Your destiny. Are you _certain_ you want to face it alone? Else I could teach your tail an important lesson in privacy."

"Oh no, I have a tail now, too?" Upright inspected himself, fairly sure of his taillessness. Then he realized Khridoli's meaning, and his heart sank. "There's no way he followed us. M-My, er, the folk who gipped his tab, is he really here?" It was like magic: the moment he caught on, he spotted Daté in the background, hidden in a crowd of pokémon who were too busy shopping to mind. "I'm in trouble."

"Relax, don't throw yourself. Let's not waste time on the sly-talk: I know his face. You'll be fine without me."

"How do you know?"

Khridoli shot a look over at the distant grovyle. Daté shouldered by a cat, pink and haughty the moment something touched it, and disappeared into an alleyway.

"His history," Khridoli answered. "There's no way he'd harm you, of course..."

 _Of course,_ Upright echoed. _He seemed so angry about what happened to the pretend-human._ The revelation added to his awe at how easily he was manipulated. It brought about more questtions. _Why would Khridoli clue me in?_ The stare had shifted now, onto the quilava. The pangoro chewed ponderously _._ _Wait a minute-_

"I'm not _with_ him," Upright blurted. What was an ambush could easily look like a meet-up. Plus, on the off chance Khridoli knew Doggy's affiliation…

The pangoro let loose a loud bout of laughter. He patted Upright's head, tugged on his horn playfully, and started to urge him towards the warehouse. "Come on, kiddo."

~~~3~~~

The entrance to the warehouse was large and open, yet all the light from the bright outside died feet within the dark place. New smells grew stronger and stronger, making Uprght's nose twitch in confusion; he caught on to several identity marks, yet there were no pokémon around. If he had walked through here rather than the crowds, no time to get used to marks, he'd have fainted on the spot. Rows of shelves and open areas with ominous, stained flooring flanked a large pod, the old home Pathen's largest boat. He imagined what it must mean to travel for weeks on a boat filled with pokéon, and concluded it was better that it sank.

There was one pokémon, eventually, who greeted them where the sunlight stopped. He was slender, and mousey in more ways than one. Several scarfs draped around his neck – upon closer inspection, they were physical parts of his body.

Without saying a word he approached, eyes locked on Upright. The quilava backed away timidly, but the R&D worker caught him by a tusk.

"Please tell me these are an accident," he said.

"Can you fix him, Amory?" Khridoli asked.

"I don't spend the years of my prime in a dank, oversized shack for fun."

The lack of introductions really fettered Upright. Still, any chance to get rid of his tusks sounded peachy, despite the risk incumbent in diving deeper into a lab with a stranger.

Khridoli looked down at him. "I've got to inform the other commanders at the Initiative of my whereabouts. This cinccino's leader here at the R&D, he'll take care of you." Amory responded with a small chuff at the pangoro as he sauntered out. He stepped out of the light and fled for the shelves, leaving Upright no choice but to follow or get stranded awkwardly in between the two adventurers.

Upright did his best to keep up. When Amory twirled around to face him, he froze up.

"Why are you doing that?" Amory asked.

"H-Huh?"

"Walking on your hind legs."

"Oh, ha. Well, my name's Upright, and it's sort of a habit."

"Your parents named you for a habit you would have when you grow up? Incredible," he sighed.

Upright winced ever so slightly. If he wasn't careful, Amory would figure him out in minutes."I don't know who my parents are. My friend chose the name." Amory accepted it, or just stopped caring, because he chose to round the first row of shelves on the left side of the warehouse. The quilava's curiosity started to slow-cook, but he felt it would be rude to peek.

He talked, if only to add some noise to the lonely warehouse. "It's pretty empty around here."

"You've come at a good time." he called, the noises of his rummaging joined the lapping of the water, "between my assistants taking their leave and the droves of hopefuls coming in. You'd be surprised how many adventurers assume I can cure their insecurities."

Upright hummed, not sure how to reply. It was hard to bite back his curiosity. "What's back there?"

"Stuff that cures insecurities – relics, basically. As much as I hate to admit it, I've gotten good at playing makeup, thanks to Commander Pep. Have you met her yet?"

"I'm unlisted," Upright said. "That's what Khridoli told me-"

" _Commander_ Khridoli," Amory interrupted. He came back around the corner, holding something between his paws. Upright's eyes lit up: it was a red ball, small enough for a single paw, and with a certain texture that he recognized. Right on the front of the ball was an emblem, and under it, the words _Bank of Unova._ It was a stress ball, probably made in the thousands for banks to give out to their clientele.

 _No way,_ Upright thought, excitement mounting. _Relics really are human objects!_ And there was a myriad of them just beyond the cinccino; the quilava almost drooled at the idea of getting his paws on them.

"No wonder you grew tusks," Amory said. "It's only a squish-ball." Seeing the quilava so excited for relics pleased him by proxy – Upright finally received a smile from the researcher.

"It's a stress ball!"

" _Hey._ I sacrificed years of my life and my own blood, sweat, and tears to earn the honor of naming relics. You don't get to stroll in and give them new names."

Upright hid his nervousness behind a chuckle. _Right. I can't go around blurting the names of human tuff."_ Sorry _."_

"And let's get this straight: the R&D I run is focused on functionality. If I didn't believe those tusks will end up holding you back in the Outside, We wouldn't be having this conversation. Once you use the powers of a relic, it's gone, _bye-bye._ So make sure you have a grasp of the criteria before you request a relic."

"That makes sense," Upright agreed. "Though I don't understand. How can a relic like a ball only work once?"

Amory held he ball up for Upright to inspect. "All relics have three layers of usefulness. There's a physical layer, which is if you and I used this ball to play catch. After that is the bulk of my department's work, which is instilling properties of relics into gemstones and garments. We refer to this as the metaphysical layer. Then we arrive at my purpose now. Once, and only once, a relic can be used to alter an identity mark. This is the glamorous layer."

"No way," Upright breathed. "But wait... marks represent personality, right? Will I be myself afterward?"

Amory's grin came back.. "Ah, it's refreshing to see a recruit with half a mind – I may need to steal you away from Khridoli. And, well, the term ' _identity_ mark' is a misnomer. When you never exercise influence over it, it does default to who- or better yet, _how_ you are as a pokémon. But our psyches are far too complex to be covered by just any one smell. Imagine a sphere called Upright." Amory placed a claw-tip on the ball. "You are in tusk-world. We need you back in no-tusk-world." He traced his claw down to an arbitrary point on the ball. "So let's get to it. All you need do is hold it., focus on it."

Upright grabbed hold. He gave the ball a gentle squeeze.

 _This is nice,_ he thought. _It makes me happy to know that there are things I recognize. A little funny, too… I never thought a stress ball could make me happy. Everything is alright. No need to rush things! There's are all sorts of great diversions right in front of me-_

He gasped and dropped the ball. A fuzziness started to grow in his mind: small, yet as noticeable as a small tickle in the throat.

"That's it?" He asked.

Amory picked up the ball and walked behind the shelves again. "Pretty much. Make sure you get a good night's sleep."

Already, Upright wished he had kept a better hold of the ball. To inspect it more, to really commit it to memory. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

The conversation stymied. "I'll wait for Khri… commander Khridoli at the entrance, I guess..."

Amory chuckled. "Fine. You can come over and look."

Before he had a chance to wonder at how rude it was to barge in, Upright swung over to take a close look at the shelves. Rows upon rows of wooden boxes held piles of human objects, _relics._ They were haphazardly labeled: Upright had no idea what a rotted crate called _don't push the buttons_ entailed. He tried to ask, but there were just so many questions.

"It's pretty spectacular, huh?" Amory asked. "Not the, uh, labeling of course. Love it or hate it, though, this is my life's passion." As if he could read the bewilderment on Upright's face, Amory reached for a relic in the 'buttons' box. It was a plain switchblade – with a push of a button he sent the blade jutting out. "This is a _pusher_. I shudder to imagine how humans utilized its obvious purpose, and that's not considering the nastier weapons adventurers have brought back. We used to let adventurers make preliminary reports. We… uh, don't allow that anymore. Think you can describe its layers?"

Upright took in a deep breath. There was no punishment for failing, but if this meeting had done anything, it was to make him crave Amory's approval. "W-Well, it's sharp. So physically it's for stabbing."

"Okay."

"Metaphysical… concealment?"

"Sort of. If you use a pusher orb, it becomes impossible for opponents to gauge your strength. It makes your attacks very surprising."

He jumped into the last layer confidently. "And the glamorous layer gives you hidden blades!" The concept of hidden shanks sounded sinister… and a bit exciting.

"No," Amory groaned. "Remember your personality-ball? Not saying it's impossible to develop some steel inside of you…try to generalize its effects, instead."

"Uh… so it just hides something about you?"

"There we go!" He pushed the blade back in and tossed it to Upright. The quilava panicked, juggling the pusher about in his arms. "Keep it. It's used up, anyway. I think? Come look at my current project."

The 'current project' stood proudly on its own special level, away from the boxes of junk. It was a pristine toy airplane, propped up in front of its box: The S _pectacular Little Stinker._ Upright failed to stifle a chuckle.

"You laugh at it, but this is a crucial relic for our future. With a functioning 'flyer', we could conduct long-range inspections of the Outside. We could go out farther than ever before, perhaps even discover another Territory if Arceus blesses us." Amory became sullen, the shift sudden enough to set Upright on edge. "If we lose the little territory we have… maybe adventurers and those like them could survive Outside in small villages. Everyone else is good as perished. We _must_ find more living space. Before we overpopulate, get attacked by the Outside, or war strikes."

Upright swallowed hard. "You'll get it done, right?"

"No," Amory said, sighing. He took the plane into his hands. "This model flyer came with, according to the box, a detailed look at the components that go into a machine like this. The Graces attacked the team that brought it in and stole the manual. I'm afraid it's in the hands of my bastard of a brother, now."

"Your brother?!" Upright blurted.

"No point letting you hear rumors. My brother disagrees with the Initiative. He has psychic capabilities, yet I'm sure those Graces are realizing he is quite, lacks everywhere else." The cinccino sighed and wiped the plane clean with his scarf.

It didn't _take_ a genius to figure out who ran the 'Graces.' _Grace has spies, adventurers, a collection of relics and a researcher,_ Upright thought. _That 'war' Amory mentioned… could he mean within the Territory?_

He had to help. It hurt enough to see Amory defeated. And if he admitted to being human, that had to help in some way. _And I trust him, right?_ He asked himself. _Khridoli's right: I shouldn't deal with my fate alone._ Upright might avoid an entire civil war.

"I'm a human," Upright said. The quilava froze in place, heart stopped. It was an awful delivery… like he admitted to being 'it' in a game of tag. "I-If I can help you in a-any way..."

Amory thought so too. He took on a caustic grimace, and immediately a draft swept through the warehouse. Upright, despite his lack of expertise, saw the painful memories he just inflicted on the researcher written in his eyes.

"That's nice," he said. "Get out."

"G-Get out?"

"Yes. I have actual work to do. I can't waste it on some unlisted."

The sudden switch put a lump in his throat. Upright tried to do damage control on the situation before it spun out of control. "I… I know what happened to the last pokémon who said that."

"Good for you," Amory growled. "Bye."

"Please don't be mad at me."

"I couldn't care less," the researcher said, half-heartedly rubbing ink off of a few pens jutting out from a box.

That stung worst of all. This was nothing like telling Doggy or Marker. "Don't do that either," he squeaked. "It… it was a slip-up, I really meant-"

" _Take a hint and leave me alone!"_ Amory screamed. Upright cried and fell over onto his back. He scrambled away, every instinct telling him to get away.

He stopped at where the light ended in the warehouse, which was shrinking as the sun passed overhead.

But Amory had nothing for him. "Sorry for yelling," the cincciino muttered. Then he went right back to tending to his relics – as if their exchange never happened.

Leaving the warehouse, Upright was completely crushed. Tears already made it hard to pick out a spot along the water where he could sit down and cry. Really, it was the first time he ever made a pokémon hostile towards him. Doggy, Marker, Khridoli – even Daté – gave him respect.

 _Their respect is totally unfounded_ , he lamented. _What did I expect Amory to do with that information? Just fit me in like a cog and solve Pathen's problems?_ Maybe he had a real chance to affect things, unlike the tragic faker that rocked the Initiative. Right then, however, he offered nothing. _I wanted to inflict myself on another pokémon. I can't keep doing that… I need to bring something to the table._

Amidst the sobs, a plan hatched. A plan for him – not for Doggy to help, not for Marker to help. Upright was going to find Grace's facility and steal back that manual on his own.

Speaking of the poochyena, Marker was suddenly upon him, pinning him to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Upright asked, a bit annoyed and teary-eyed.

"It's hard to cry when pinned down," Marker answered. It was true, at least.

"What about your bath?"

"I took a fast one. Doggy wanted to stay and be massaged by strangers. He's too trusting."

Upright laughed. "Get off," he said. "I'm fine, really."

Marker sniffed at him. "Why are you so sad?"

A good question. "I made a mistake. One I won't let happen again. Marker, I promise, I'll always have your back." The poochyena gave him a look that said _duh, why wouldn't you?_ Of course – Marker already considered him a strange inner-city packmate. "Say, what made you come back here? Why not wait at the bathhouse?"

"Khridoli wants you to go to the bathhouse, then wait at the inn. He said to _hunker down, and don't make trouble_."

Upright stood up and made sure his fur had soaked up his tears. "Got it."

He gave the ocean one last look. It was vast, endless. A plane really would make a dent in that expanse. But for the time being, he had only himself to offer. Already, his mind worked away, thinking up ways to prove his worth.


	4. Chapter 4: The Adventure Initiative

The bath, the walk back to the inn, and even the period of rest afterward (where Khridoli provided some spiced cider from the Initiative storage to enjoy and talk around), Upright stole to put together the pieces of his new life. It must have been obvious what ate at him, because none of them questioned his bafflement or his inability to answer the easiest questions.

 _I must be suffering from some kind of whiplash_ , he thought, taking another long draw from his cup – feeling the warmness that it put in his bely kept him from accusing it all of being a dream. _There's no way I am this calm._ It shocked Upright how easily he adjusted to staring down the dark mysteries ahead, that he left his horror behind in Grace's cabin. This new world was dark to him, very dark, to the point he would likely spend the rest of his life learning to feel the walls around him.

Upright looked over his cup. Khridoli was making the effort to see if he had seen Marker's father somewhere in the territory. It started calm, yet had grown quite animated.

"C'mon pooch, you've got to give me _something_ ," Khridoli growled. "Nibbled ear. Black stripe. Large paws. I've seen scores of mightyena on my rounds of the Territory. His breed isn't enough."

"Why would I know my father's ears?" Marker asked. "We always found each other by scent, in my pack." The pangoro huffed, stretching backwards. The floorboards creaked as he did so. Upright could tell he had given up on the subject, and admired his ability to make a tactical retreat.

Marker's ears popped up in excitement. "A scent… I have just the thing!" He stood up, trotting towards the corner of the room.

Still bewildered by his own ideas, Upright nearly missed the poochyena's intent. Doggy gaped and leaped forward, knocking over his bowl of cider in an attempt to pin down Marker. The growlithe's instincts were on point.

"Nope!" Doggy said. "That's a dumb idea if I've ever heard one."

'You spilled your cider," Marker groaned.

"Better than you spilling your-"

"Enough," Khridoli said. The pangoro stood up to his full height – it imposed on the three pokémon, and Upright couldn't help but imagine that some discipline was headed their way. But he just moved down the room, towards the wall, so that they had no choice but to line up in front of him. Even so, Doggy and Marker were off of each other in a split second. "I might as well start explaining what to expect from orientation tomorrow. And what sort of behavior's appropriate. You ready Upright?"

Upright nodded drearily. "I'm fine, thanks." Out of all those words, he picked out three, maybe four. When he realized what was going on, he jolted to attention. "S-Sorry. Whatever you need, commander." Doggy shot him a concerned glance, thankfully the first one that night.

Khridoli nodded back. "That's the first thing: titles. If a pokémon has one, you use it. All adventurers have their reasons, but are nonetheless quite attached to being recognized – I'm sure Amory gave our friend here a lecture or two about all sacrifices that went into that warehouse. Our business is like tossing our efforts into a deep crevasse, so it's nice to be reminded once in awhile that it brings results."

 _Yeah, just like I reminded Amory of his 'results' with the last 'human.'_ It was an incredibly contrived way to pity himself. He hid his guilt behind a studious grunt. _No more of that. I've got to stay on track._

"Do _we_ get titles?" Doggy asked. "If so, I wanna be called Deathseeker D-"

"Rookies and unlisted don't get titles, they get nicknames," Khridoli answered. "And if you keep up with that death nonsense, other commanders'll label you DNT – _do not trust._ " Khridoli switched gears, becoming perhaps the most official Upright had seen him yet. "But that's ahead. Let's start all the way at the top: the Adventure Initiative works on a credence system – if a commander presiding over any task gives you permission to do the same, then you are officially entrusted to perform that task. Intermediaries are the pokémon who train rookies and unlisted to a point where this may happen. They work in courses, which can be specific or hit a variety of subjects, dependent on how advanced the rookie."

 _That makes sense,_ Upright thought. Mostly, he liked the freedom to make mistakes on what he preferred. _I really lucked out with this whole credence thing._

"Take my own assigned task as an example," Khridoli continued. "I am responsible for those entrusted to interact with Greaterbeasts, whether that means distraction, routing or fighting them – these pokémon are referred to as _underdogs_."

"Greaterbeasts?" Upright asked. _Ah, I just interrupted!_ The quilava raised a hand up in post, hoping for leniency.

Khridoli grew terse and impatient, as if bored of the explanation. "Greaterbeasts are creatures that aren't pokémon. They are… amalgamations, machines, other sorts of horror stories the average adventurer isn't equipped to deal with. Underdog's do their best to lead these monsters away from the group." The pangoro grinned, but the idea of being chased by a monster made Upright's stomach churn. "Ignoring the fact he isn't housebroken, I'd choose Marker as an example of a pokémon capable of becoming a great underdog. His experience in a pack has already taught him to tire out opponents before taking action."

The poochyena wagged his tail. "I love chasing and being chased!"

"And Doggy, you'd do just fine with training."

It took every bit of effort for the growlithe to not voice his opinion on running away from a good fight.

Then Khridoli looked at Upright. The commander tried to keep his expression neutral. "Upright, don't take it wrong, but I would have to label you DNT for underdog training. That means that intermediaries may bar you from taking courses directly related to my task. Your frame is too fragile and you are inexperienced at navigating terrain."

As much as Upright _didn't_ want to be one, it still stung. "Is it normal to take on an unlisted that can't even do your task?" He asked, a little bitter in spite of himself.

"Relax. There are eight other commanders. Many pokémon, rookies _and_ unlisted, are declared DNT in three or four tasks straight out of orientation."

"Sorry," he muttered. _What if I'm not good enough for any of them?_ He could end up not being allowed outside – Doggy's reasons for avoiding the Initiative became very real.

"Wait – you mentioned some courses cover multiple topics," Doggy said, hardly concealing a wry tail-wag. "If that's the case, Upright could work up to it with enough effort."

"Yes," Khridoli said.

"And you said intermediaries _may_ refuse! If he asks nicely, maybe they could privately tutor-"

"No!" Upright barked, panicking. "I don't want to be babysat. I… I want to take up as much space as everyone else and not an inch more."

Doggy's second glance definitely beat out his first. Upright scratched an ear and drank some cider – over their talk, it had grown cold.

Fortunately, Khridoli looked as though he had grown tired of explaining. He swept through the rest in a breeze of instructions: "we will enter through the timestop early tomorrow, take our place at the observatory and watch over orientation – unlisted do not participate. Get some sleep, prepare your best behavior, and so on."

If the rest of Khridoli's lecture went by fast, then the scramble to get to bed was an absolute frenzy. Their room was cleaned up before Upright knew it, the commander had retired to his room, and no one could save him from the angry growlithe staring at him from atop the bed. Upright prayed his friend would leave it alone.

"What the heck was that?" Doggy asked. No such luck.

Upright fettered his claws nervously. "I… uh, I didn't mean to bark..."

"He wants to hunt alone," Marker explained, rolling onto his back. "To prove himself. I tried this once. I met a green dragon. I felt that my kills were always envious of those that went into the dragon's maw…. the pack respected my bravery, but I think I would rather not have chased the deer Outside. The shame of being so small was unbearable. I felt pains in my chest because of my envy."

This outburst distracted the growlithe from grilling Upright. "Geez. You sure sound calm about it now."

"That's because I'm tired," Marker said. "Our pelts smell of fresh grass, it is exhausting… I still dream about the dragon..." just like that, the poochyena was asleep.

Upright took the chance to explain himself. "You've given me so much and I haven't repaid you, Doggy. I want to return the favor."

"Sheesh, you've been in Pokéearth, what, three or four days? With enough hard work and time, I'm sure you will find a way to help me – even so a genius strider is usually the one doing the saving, not getting saved!" Doggy grew quite excited, shaking the small bed with his wagging. Marker rolled to the side and pawed at him pleadingly. "Anyways. Upright. I know you won't ever disappoint anyone if you can help it. So don't get all stressed and bark at me. Or I'll toss you out the window!"

The quilava chuckled. As far as he was concerned, Doggy could do no wrong.

 _Maybe he really is a genius,_ Upright thought, curling up. _He always knows what to say…_ sleep grabbed hold of him before he could pass on more quiet compliments.

~~~4~~~

"Come on, you lot!" Khridoli called, pounding on the door rhythmically. It surprised Upright how fast he reacted – the second knock had the quilava on his feet, wondering what preparations he needed to make. "Room's been paid for. We're leaving in five minutes!"

"Aiyee!" Doggy cried, running back and forth. Ignoring the speed, the growlithe hadn't done a single thing to pack up. "This feels just like Delibird Day, only a hundred thousand times more intense! I couldn't sleep more than an hour at a time!"

Upright perked up. _Delibrd Day… sounds like something I remem-_

A bag hit him straight in the face. Khridoli's bag of money, the one they used to pay for the bathhouse. Marker dropped to his belly some distance away.

"No time for your thinking-face!" He barked. Doggy had infected him with his anxiety.

" _Thinking-face?_ " Upright asked, a little offended. He reached up to feel where the bag hit him, only to discover something missing – his tusks. The stress ball actually worked! In its place, however, the quilava felt taller – now he had to hunch to stay on his hind feet – and his paws had taken on a shape that made it easier to cling on to the bag. All these features trumped the fact that he apparently had a 'thinking-face.'

"Oh, quiet," a stranger said from the room opposite the hall. A racoonish creature pawed open the door to his room. "It ain't Delibird day. It's only another day of high tariffs and crooked roads."

Doggy froze. He retreated towards Upright.

"Nuh-uh," he said, his excitement gone.

"Yeah, sorry to break it to ya, it is. C'mere."

Upright watched as Doggy cautiously slipped into the room. It didn't take much sense to know what group had a talent for whisking people out of sight.

"Go," Doggy said to him and Marker. "I'll be okay, promise."

Upright complied, though doing so made his mouth run dry. His heart started to thump hard. What if Grace changed her mind? What if she wanted to take the growlithe away from the Initiative?

Upright gestured to Marker, who was so jumpy he might burst through the door to attack the raccoon, and descended the stairs.

Khridoli waited for them at the door. The innkeep gave them all a wave – the pangoro was a regular here, or else the yelling had clued him.

They stepped outside. The commander asked him about Doggy. "It'll take a moment," he said, not believing that at all.

That moment passed. Khridoli asked again, angrily this time. Upright was inches away from spilling his guts when Doggy burst through the door, the bag of money in his mouth.

"It was under the bed," He mumbled through the mouthful of coin. He received a judgmental glance from Khridoli. Nothing else came from it – a fact Upright attributed to them already being fairly late.

And just like that, they were off. Upright waited for the streets to open up an opportunity to speak with Doggy privately. He'd rather wait, but the growlithe looked shaken.

They earned a brief moment when Khridoli stopped to help a stuck carriage. There was so little time, Upright let his friend assume the questions.

"He's from the Graces," Doggy whispered. "They… they wanted me to continue smuggling relics for them. From _inside_ the Initiative." Upright's new claws squeezed together, hard.

Doggy answered the obvious question: "I told him to go to hell. That I don't care if they tip off the Initiative." That was definitely an outcome Upright could see happening, if it wasn't for his memory of Grace's identity mark. She knew it was the wrong choice. "I'm officially all in, buddy..." that was undoubtedly true, and went for them both.

"No time for gawking!"

Upright hadn't noticed how close they were to the Initiative, he had been so distracted with checking on Doggy. Just above them was the maze of towers – some of them rotated in the center, a grinding noise he could hear from the bottom. The rows of houses had dwindled into piles of makeshifts huts and bazaar-style sstores, the main path to the Initative determined by pure luck, or the pokémon remembering to keep it clear. Later on it opened into a curved set of stairs, leading into the base of the first tower. The other exit, far into the distance and only visible by a slight angle, was far more grand: the bridge to the Outside.

Before he had time to gawk, he was being pushed along by Marker, who had doubled back to help them along. The growlithe was holding his breath.

"Remember to breathe," Upright told him. It was the least he could say.

"Ha!" His air came out in a short puff. "This is s-so cool, but…"

"Do what I do," Upright recommended.

"What's that?"

"Make yourself small and hope stuff gets explained."

Doggy chuckled and put a paw up on the first step. He collided head-on with Marker.

"Why are you two always gossiping?" The poochyena asked. "Packs know everything about each other. Everything they can and more."

Doggy huffed and slipped by. "Golly, you're a creep." He turned back, giving him an encouraging smile. "I'll fill you in on everything, I promise."

Then they were at the 'timestop' – overall, the trip took twenty nerve-racking minutes. Their destination: an empty room. The space above Upright covered all the size he saw outside the tower, reaching skyward into a shadowed void. This one tower, perhaps an example of the others, made use of just one floor. A lonely kiosk stood to the left, unattended to, and the place wasn't even well-lit; if it weren't for several other pokémon milling about, he'd swear that Khridoli had taken a wrong turn.

Khridoli turned to them. "This is the timestop. The wall over there slides open for thirty minutes, then closes for thirty minutes. We _somehow_ made it on time," he added. His eyes scanned the group of pokémon. "Damn it!" One moment it was annoyance. The next, he was practically seething. Upright had the feeling it wasn't their fault this time – something he wished his friends would pick up on that before their hearts gave out.

"Commander!" Whoever called out then (and scared the daylight out of Upright), had a strange drone behind their voice, as if it was disembodied - no chest to mold its tone. Almost as if...

It was a ghost! Upright yowled and cowered behind Doggy. He thought the flying snail prepared him for shocking creatures, but this was something else entirely. This was a flying mass of… of what? _Spirit-ness?_ And the way it made the air around them colder…

He knew he had no reason to be afraid because it called Khridoli 'commander', so he steeled himself for a look.

The ghost looked down on him. It's an age-old adage that the dead are full of regrets, but this one only seemed slightly sorry.

"Oh." It wrenched its head back, tipping the large hat on its head. "Sorry. We've a sort of pace here at the Initiative."

 _Thank Arceus – it thinks I'm surprised by its yelling._

"Ha, nice one," Upright said. "You, uh, scared me half to death. I-I'm not ready to join you, yet." _I'm the smoothest around_ , he lamented.

The joke didn't register. "Huh, what are you on about?" The ghost asked.

'Well, you're a ghost. So you must have died at one point," Upright explained.

Marker cocked his head to the side. "Is that how it works?"

"Shut it for one second!" Khridoli ordered. They all snapped to attention, including their new guest. "Shuteye, how in the hell did he get through?"

"I begged and I begged," Shuteye pleaded, "but the Master Adventurer said that everyone gets to try out. I'm afraid he vetoed the commanders – orientation begins in a half-hour, so there's no time to rearrange the battles or follow through."

This only made the pangoro angrier. "What good will come of – ahg! And the other commanders, did you speak with them?"

"He'll be DNT'd with extreme prejudice," Shuteye said. "Forgive me, commander Khridoli. As a mismagius, shyness runs in my family, and perhaps I didn't try hard enough to convince the Master."

"Forget it," the commander said. "Your best place is Outside, not in this confounded game we've made out of our politics." Upright was moments off of asking for some context, when the pangoro turned to him. "And you. Did you know _anything_ about this? Did he say anything about planning to try out?"

"Who?" Upright squeaked.

Khridoli nodded toward the timestop. As if by magic, really by good timing, the walls started to turn.

"Your friend from the inn wants to become an adventurer."

Upright gaped. There was _one_ thing he remembered that might be of some help:

" _And if you see me around, fulfilling my agenda, you stay far away,"_ Daté had told him - in the alley, after dark.

 _He didn't mean in Pathen or Outside_ , he realized with mounting terror. _He meant inside the Initiative!_


	5. Chapter 5: The Orientation

After the timestop came another bridge, and after the news of Daté's application to the Initiative, came the worst he expected to ever see Khridoli. The tweed always in his mouth went straight up, jaw to jaw, looking like a crocodile with a branch stopping its bite. Then his tongue broke the stick in half and he chewed it. The crack fit in perfectly with the clamor of distant pokémon – Upright felt himself become petrified with doubt twice over. He tried to shiver off the sheet of ice coating his pelt, which Shuteye noticed.

It floated over, pacing itself to the quilava's walk. "Sorry about the cold," it said. "And being the bearer of bad news..."

"You couldn't help it," Upright said.

At least he gleamed that from the goings-on Shuteye described: the leader of the Initiative, 'Master Adventurer' held off a vote to remove Daté. The idea of an obvious Grace permeating such a guarded place was so baffling, Upright couldn't see a way to fairly place fault on the acts of any one entity.

Finally, the terse aura broke down. Khridoli growled and stomped away toward the forward path at a large fork – only then did the other pokémon on the bridge feel safe to pick up the slack.

"Bye bye, commander," Shuteye said. "He's always promising to work on that anger of his…. this is foul," it muttered, describing the idea shining in its eyes. It looked like curiosity. "Foul stuff… but I can't ignore the fact you seem to know Daté. How have you come to know him? I doubt he's a _friend_ – he's been gone for several years, at least. I won't spread it around, promise."

 _My friend and I are in deep with the Graces_ , Upright thought. _Daté's been stalking me to make sure I don't ruin his plans with my human-ness._

Fat chance. It worked out _so_ well the last time. Plus it was all to exhausting to describe on the go. Still, it was just as exhausting to whip up a lie. He should have been working on one since last night, but he was too busy ruminating.

"I remember!" Marker barked. "That friend robbed us. Commander Khridoli found the scene of the crime."

Doggy gave a long hum, as if cutting off some stored-up speech.

 _Wow,_ Upright thought, simply stunned. _Is Marker really lying for me off of instinct? He doesn't even know the truth..._

"...And then he decided to take you all on as unlisted," Shuteye finished for them. "That's strange. No commander's ever taken on victims. N-not that you don't deserve to be here!" It exclaimed.

"Looks like they don't offer courses on manners up in the Initiative," Doggy said. It was a sour reply, but Upright felt it too – the twang of doubt at Shuteye's comment.

The mismagius took it well. "Ha! Actually, cheerleaders take a course like that! But I'm no cheerleader, I can tell you that much. Most initiative stereotypes are true… including the one that says all underdogs are awful impolite."

"I'm not impolite," Marker whined.

Doggy gave him a shifty look. "Really? Dare to double-down on that?"

The poochyena never got the chance. A new batch of identity marks came to them. Wafting up, from below their own bridge. Marker went to the balcony to get a look. So did Upright and Doggy.

" _So cool!_ " Doggy cried. "There has to be, like, forty pokémon down there!"

It was certainly wider than their own path, thicker too, with banners to point applicants towards orientation. _They're all so small from up here. And so colorful!_ Upright thought that seeing wave after wave of pokémon, ready to show their stuff, would make him even more worried about his chances. But the vigorous crowd lifted his spirits.

"When orientation comes around," Shuteye explained, "we remove the furniture from the mess hall and set up arenas. We're headed to the observatory to watch the fights from above. Oh, and you might think there are a ton of them now," it added, smiling, "but this is the group _after_ interviews and aptitude tests. It's our biggest group to date."

"How many quit a year once they get a taste of all the stairs and walking?" Doggy asked.

A startling hiccup came from the mismagius. Upright realized he had just heard how a ghost stifles its chuckling.

"Come on," it said, "let's get going."

Before they did, Doggy made sure to note something for his two friends. He brought a paw over the balcony, to point at a shape emergent in the crowd.

"There he is," Doggy whispered.

The crowd had distanced itself from Daté, who waited down there like just any typical applicant. Upright swallowed hard.

"Let's not allow him to ruin our day," the quilava ordered.

~~~V~~~

The clamor of hundreds of pokémon was loud enough, until it was put into a tower with an echo. Upright had to cover his sensitive ears for entirety of the descent to the rows of spots lining the observatory. His heart was about to leap out of his throat, so he made a mad dash for Khridoli, regardless of how the pangoro was busy slamming fist-against-palm in front of a group of pokémon.

Doggy and Marker followed – the noise was fine, but the full rows of adventurers gave them plenty of reason to seek out safety.

While Upright was in his mad rush, some words soaked through his paw:

"That one's a deep-forest bumpkin," a black-pelt hose (maybe a zebra?) jeered. "See how he covers 'is ears. What a dope!

"No way, he's a rich lad from east Territory!" The blue turtle responsible for the assumption didn't even try to keep their game subtle.

Upright stopped on a dime. Doggy and Marker padded on, not even noticing. "Huh?" He called, still unused to the clamor.

"Where are you from?" The horse asked.

He gave the answer quick, in hope of escaping. "Deep-forest." _That's sorta true,_ he thought.

The turtle scowled and handed a small bounty to zebra – or really, dropped it into the bag the zebra picked up with its mouth. "Blasted kid, your mark is too clean for forest life."

Upright didn't quite catch that. "Huh?"

"Pardon him," the other one said, "he's a bit sour. I'd assume there's no use betting on which commander dragged him in. You're Amory's charge, all right."

Even among the business, Upright was completely blasted by guilt. There was little reason for, though that just made it harder to chew. "Commander Khridoli took me in," he said.

The two sat silently.

"He's one of us?" The turtle asked.

"Uh, see that, Shuteye's right close to him. I swear this is a prank – eh, Shuteye?"

Shuteye saved Upright from talking. "Ohmer. Milo. Want me to tell our commander that you are making bets on unlisted?"

Ohmer, the zebra, shook his head wildly. "You'd sentence a comrade to death, eh? You truly don't have a soul."

"I'm good, thanks," Milo pleaded. "Our commander looks ready to take down rayquaza with his fists n' attitude." With that, those two returned to facing the ground floor, and Upright took his chance to reach Khridoli.

Who, because fate was already having field-day with the quilava, had abandoned his ranting for a one-on-one with none other than Amory. They were discussing something avidly, arms folded, eyes sombre. When the pangoro craned his neck back and spotted Upright, and he shook his head slowly, Upright discovered that he was the dumbest pokémon there could ever be.

Commander Khridoli walked over. "You're in trouble. Go sit with your friends. Pay attention to orientation, learn a thing or two. Afterward, I'm personally giving you the outside-inside of the Initiative."

Upright walked to an open space next to Doggy like it was the electric chair. The growlithe was gaping at him – _no_ , Upright realized, _he's gaping at the three arenas on the bottom floor of the tower. He didn't notice, I think.._

They were quite amazing. Special work had to have gone into designing the stages, into moving them, the slabs of stone that they were.

"So cool, _so-oo-o cool."_ Doggy bounced back and forth, chanting to himself. "Upright, this is the best ever. We get to see, like, a thousand fights in a row!"

"That's too many," Marker said. "All those pokémon will tire themselves to death."

Doggy drooped one ear. "It's a hyperbole."

Marker was dubious. "You made that word up," he accused.

" _W...why_ would I ever-"

"Because I am right and you are wrong," Marker said, pointing his nose to the air. "You lose." Then he noticed his own rude behavior. "Oops. Sorry, seeing this fighting-pit brings out my competitive instinct. _Grr._ "

"Don't make me take you down there," Doggy growled. "I'll show you _my_ competitive spirit."

Marker made his eyes cross, a talent he hadn't shown off before. "Goh-hoh-hoh," he mocked. "I am a _bathseeker_. Watch out for my competitive spirit." Doggy took a swipe at him, and they fell into a squabble.

Upright laughed. _Those two are on the same wavelength_

Then he had the idea to check his other side. And there was Amory, waiting to be seen. He adjusted his scarves, giving Upright a sidelong glance. The quilava slunk away from him.

"I' haven't yelled at anything since I was a scrapper," Amory said. "I nearly tried to make you DNT for field researchers, cartographers, and toolkits. Because what you did was perhaps the stupidest act to ever permeate my precious warehouse."

 _That would be three right off the bat…_ Upright hung his head.

"You're lucky I trust commander Khridoli to dole out a proper punishment – in case you haven't figured it out, he becomes considerably more stressed when inside the walls of the Initiative. Blame it on the politics."

"That must be what _inside-outside_ means," Upright said, already fearing the experience. "I shouldn't have ever said that."

"Very right," Amory hissed. "You're also lucky that I understand what it means to enter this business a pariah. _One_ chance, Upright. Don't throw it away on another silly 'confession.' Seriously, I ought to-"

" _A-Attention everybody? Hello?"_

Amory forgot his lecture. "Arceus help us. Who put that smeargle on announcement-duty?"

A doggish creature, standing on two feet and hanging on to a red-tipped tail for dear life, spoke into a megaphone. Somehow, Upright picked up that it was for lifeguard's watchers over the ocean, from its red-white paint, and the smeargle definitely looked like he was drowning.

" _Er, uh, h-how is everyone? Hope no one fell on the way here!"_

Silence. Amory buried his head in his paws.

"Tough crowd," Doggy whispered.

The smeargle jostled around.

" _So. This is the orientation. We have a lot of new – well, of course they're new, unless the reapplied, to which I wish them good luck. Not that their success rides on luck, i-it's all skill. Speaking of skill, we are testing it today._ "

"I once leaped at a stag," Marker said. "I thought I caught it, but I was chewing on a tree. This is sadder." He seemed genuinely surprised at the fact. Several of the pokémon around them laughed at the remark. The smeargle noticed this bout of chuckles, along with several other pockets of mirth, and tossed away all pretense.

" _Darn it, why am I up here again? Toss the cartographer up on the stand: has that ever worked out well?! Yeah, whatever, get your laughs in! Your maps will take you straight into rayquaza's belly!"_

"Usually we try to inspire the applicants," Amory said, almost drowned out by the smeargle's ranting. "Sometimes we go for humor instead. You'd be surprised how far a little humility goes in calming things down."

Finally, Khridoli had enough. He stepped up, stole the megaphone.'

" _First applicants up. Ring one, Acker and Retch. Ring two, Trotsky and Trixie. Ring three, Albus and Jash..."_

The pokémon called entered their respective rings, their chosen corners. Before Upright had the time to take in their forms, they began, charging at each other.

Roars came from the observatory. Things were happening. Action. Combat. An unfamiliar scent reached him, a sort of energy. It incensed him, peaking his interest even so he had no idea what was happening.

His eyes caught the third ring. _Hey,_ he thought, watching the two pokémon weave around each other, _he's all weasel-like, like me!_

The yellow creature was actually more otter-like than anything. He proved his breed by sliding about the ring on his stomach, staying under the charges of a scruffly dog. In a burst of speed, Jash took advantage of an overlong leap, putting himself beneath Albus. For a moment it seemed that Jash had given himself up, until a burst of water came forth from his mouth. Albus lifted onto his hind legs from the sheer force of it, then collapsed.

 _Okay, maybe we aren't very alike._

Albus somehow stood up and continued to fight.

Doggy and Marker, who were starting to seem as if they shared a single mind, had both chosen ring two. They were half-crazed, cheering every time a blow landed – and between Trixie and Trotsky, with long clubs and helms of ivory, there was a constant stream of impacts. Even so, the helms showed no signs of wear or cracking. They were in a frenzy, wailing on each other with reckless abandon. In a way, they almost fought as if in tandem – they had to be related.

Since his friends had lost their collective mind, he asked Amory. "Are the pokémon in ring two brother and sister?" He asked.

Amory took his eyes of ring one for a moment. The question made him sad, for whatever reason.

"For cubone, that's really not possible," the cinccino replied. No explanation as to why. "A-anyway, check out ring one. You can see the other commanders salivating over that mudkip from here."

The mudkip, Acker, was actually in the middle of an upset – at least, in terms of size. The lengthy creature in the middle of the ring kept trying to charge out, where it might push in instead of out. The tiny blue fish weaved around the edges in short little bounces. Whenever Retch attempted to escape, Acker came in and tipped his head. Upright gasped once his sharp eyes caught what was forming in the ring: blood.

 _He's cutting him with that fin of his!_ Upright thought. _O-Ouch…_ even with expedited recovery, a pokémon was likely unable to weather such an assault for long. The fact that Retch managed to stand on ribbons amazed the quilava. _I could never stay up…_

The other two matches ended. Jash won the match, while the match between the cubone had to be broken up. Several cries of confusion spread through the observatory. To answer them, a graceful creature slid onto the stand. " _To prevent grievous harm,_ " she said, weaving the words together into silky announcements, _"we are ending the matches in ring two – a tie – and ring one – to Acker._ " The commander adjusted his scarves and leaped down, back to his spot.

The cubone limped away. Retch wasn't so lucky: a few pokémon carried him off, barely conscious. Acker followed a bit, either concerned or angry that his opponent found a way out of the ring.

Amory sighed. "A bunch of fighters in the first round," he said. "At this rate, we're going to be stretched for field researches again."

"I know you're the head of R&D," Upright said, suddenly inspired, "but are you a commander?"

The look of bafflement on the cinccino's face was almost funny. "Uh… yes."

"Why are you…" _over here? Bad question, Upright._ For once (though he hoped to do it again sometime in the future) Upright used his head. If he recalled correctly, Amory's brother had defected to the Graces. _Is that enough to make the other commanders dislike him?_ Khridoli, at least, seemed fine sending him in to get his tusks fixed.

Upright changed his tone. "Sorry. I'm not very insightful into fighting. You said you were a scrapper?"

Amory rebounded the moment the topic changed. "Yeah! Scrappers take the lead on fighting ferals. Those are the not-so-nice pokémon from the Outside. I was a pretty good one, too. But my brother was making an absolute wreck of R&D, despite his 'latent talent.' They asked me to become a researcher, keep him in line. I'm rusted over now… oh, more matches."

There were. They had actually brought Jash from ring three to clean up ring one and two. Now a fresh batch of applicants exercised their power. Except for ring two, which was mysteriously empty.

"Where's ring two?" Upright asked.

Doggy nudged him and nodded straight ahead. Two birds were interlocked in a panicked dogfight, trying to get the other one to plummet. One had a plumage of jet-black feathers, making it the standout in the mess compared to a beige-colored pokémon who, if being closer to the ground showed a disadvantage, was steadily losing the fight.

In a sudden burst, the beige bird wrapped its beak around the other bird's neck. They slammed into the rim of the observatory, sliding along the edges as either fought for control of this desperate move. Marker popped up on all fours and barked at them. Upright himself was taken aback: _there's a ring for a reason_ , he thought. It was all fun and games until the audience got involved – Marker looked ready for a diving attack.

"Hey Marker," Upright said, trying to distract him. "Do you thing flying pokémon get pigeon-holed into scout roles?"

The poochyena stopped winding up. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"It's strange. You say pigeon-holed, and a pigeon happens to be a bird, and you are speaking of birds."

Those two birds were gone, out of view because they had fallen under the rim. "I, uh, didn't mean to do that."

"Grr…" Marker looked frustrated. Upright decided to ignore it now, ask questions never.

Overall, this was much better than Upright anticipated. He hardly felt the same nervousness from before. The caveat… one of these rings would have Daté in it eventually.

While the other two rings ended with victories, ring two ended in a nasty draw. Jet-black and beige were colors that clashed, apparently; it took several pokémon to tear them apart. The same graceful commander returned to remind combatants to _stay on or in the region above_ the stage.

Daté, though he hadn't provided much evidence, seemed to be a dangerous combatant. How many rules would need mentioning in his fight?

~~V~~~

Another batch went up to the rings. And another.

A break finally came after this fourth set of matches. The smell of blood, toil and excitement hung in the air. _Shuteye called this a 'mess tower?'_ Upright asked himself. _I don't think I can eat if this smog sticks around…_

A leafy fellow interrupted his thoughts. More shroomish, on a second look. It was flanked by an armor-plated shrew and a third pal, who challenged Upright's limits of associating pokémon to animals; it had two diamonds for eyes, and seemed to be close to Shuteye's amorphous form, but succinctly different.

"Hiya!" The shroomy one said. "Commander Khridoli said you three were his unlisted."

Upright did his best to play it cool. He wore a big smile. "We are. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too!"

The shrew pointed at Amory. "Wait, there's a fourth unlisted. Who picked you out?"

Amory looked about ready to prove his scrapping background. "I'm a commander," he said, glowering.

 _Well that proves it,_ Upright thought, _they know as much as we do._

"Aw… why are you over here?" Was the shrew's followup.

 _And that proves that they have about as much tact as I do._

"I'm sitting over here bec- which commanders picked you lot out?!" Amory asked, going on the defensive.

The greenest one replied first. "Commander Tairé, He called me pretty tough, for a leafy breloom."

The sandshrew was still in the throes of defeat. "I'm really sorry. Oh… I roll into a ball, like most sandshrew do, I guess…. then I can memorize my route and scale the distances in my head. Why? I don't know, why do remember anything… commander Eatzle liked it, though."

"Commander Regal," the dark one answered. "I professed my love for subterfuge one day, and the like mind sees its siblings in the details. A sableye maxim…"

 _Well, Shuteye did mention stereotypes._ Though he wouldn't put it past the three to surprise him, the other commanders had made cut-and-dry choices for their unlisted. _Maybe there's a deadline. Maybe Khridoli just picked us up off the street?_

"We've got permission to use the rings while its break-time," the breloom said. "Let's all scrap a bit!"

 _Whoa, no thanks_.

Doggy bounced up so fast he almost gave himself whiplash. "Me and you – right now!"

 _It's okay. This sandshrew is definitely going to sit out, like me. That leaves two one-on-one's._

"My commander said I must fight," the sandshrew lamented. "I have to etch a map in someone's flesh… it's sorta my first assignment. Unless he was being facetious..."

Marker took one look at Upright and nodded. "Upright has an upset stomach. I can fight both the maximum and the one that scares me a little."

" _Maxim_ ," the sableye hissed.

The sandshrew titled his head. "Um… okay. I mean, if you think you can do it."

The group of unlisted ran by Upright. Already, he felt left out. Considering his experience this was the best choice; he'd never taken a hit as a pokémon, and he'd bet money the fights down there felt nothing like play-wrestling with Doggy.

The excited pokémon were in the rings within a few minutes – there was likely an indoor route connecting the mess area to the observatory. Right away, Upright was captured by Doggy's struggle against the breloom.

The breloom's legs deceived Doggy by coiling up their length, which not only made them appear stout but added to the power they delivered. The growlithe found himself underestimating their range time and time again, though blows were always traded, the odds tipping neither direction.

"Sheesh," Amory said. Upright nodded.

Then the pace of the battle shifted. At first Upright missed the reason for Doggy suddenly jerking back. Then he saw the lengths of cord coming from the breloom.

Amory took in a breath. "Yikes."

At this point, where the rules seemed so established, Doggy panicked in response to the shift in strategy. He tried to charge over the vine. Another vine came from the breloom's free arm. It smacked straight into the growlithe's forehead and, in the contemplative tower, the echo of his cry, of his slipping off the ring onto the ground, reached Upright fully. Doggy kept his head buried underneath his forelegs as he attempted to get back to the ring.

 _Arceus!_ Upright straightened up. _That didn't sound good!_ Thankfully, an adventurer peeled Doggy away before he climbed up for a second round.

"Arceus," Amory said, mirroring his thoughts.

Upright nodded. "Right? If only he could use fire like I can, then maybe-"

"Are we watching the same fight?" Amory asked. "Because I'm watching Marker work his way through our applicants this year."

Sableye, check, Sandshrew, check; both were writhing somewhere off stage. Not knocked off, but scooted off to make room for others to come up. First had to be Jash, since he looked a _little_ recovered from a vicious headbutt. Maybe her fight had made Trixie too tired for another, or maybe Marker was the reason she kept checking her swings, while the poochyena worked on dealing with the mudkip. Acker, at least, proved to be on par.

Khridoli watched with the other commanders. For the first time since reentering the Initiative, he had a grin on his face – almost childlike. When the sableye appeared behind Marker, likely employing a sort of stealth technique, Marker whipped around and butted him out of the ring. The pangoro looked as if he might explode into a bout of giddy chuckles.

Until commander Regal stepped up onto the stand. _"Refrain from ganging up on the poochyena. He is a docile and might assume he is being cornered._ " Then Khridoli sprang up and got into a furious argument with the gorgeous creature.

"That explains a lot of things," Amory said. "Even so, Marker seems to have a talent for reading his opponents. Wild or no, he reads pokémon well."

 _No, he doesn't_ , Upright wanted to say. _Those Wild Committee fakes ripped him off, and he had no idea. Or, in a wild world, he did know. Did he see Doggy and me as better pack-mates than those fakes? Is that why he chose to turn on them?_

The argument over at the commanders' spot was growing heated. A fox creature, his form made as if by the pull of being heavy and airless at once, took the stand.

" _We're starting again, so everyone… everyone… everyone..._ "

Regal and Khridoli stopped to look at the fox.

" _There we go. Next to the ring..."_ this stop wasn't to grab anyone's attention. He looked about at the observatory, then the ground floor, trying to find a way to buy time. There was none. _"Next to the right. Pep and Hard-day, ring one. Lilith and Mara, ring two. And, um… Daté and Tahtib."_

Upright kept his face expressionless. _Daté.'s turn. Why do I get a feeling that this fox isn't worried about him, though?_

A commotion began among the commanders. Regal lost her poise and, if Upright dared to call it the strangest part of his day, witnessed her reach for Khridoli – a moment ago the two had been at the throat with one another. Khridoli took her paw and held it, his face stern. The clamor spread from them, to everyone, until the announcement of ring three was the source of a violent uproar in the observatory.

"Amory, what's happening?!" He called.

But the cinccino was rushing to the other commanders. He did get in time for one bit, however:

"Tahtib is Regal and Khridoli's son. Something is amiss." He yelled at Khridoli, swinging a paw across his neck. _Relax. Stop. Don't interfere._

The other, poor participants went to their rings, unsure of whether they should start – or if the chorus of boos at Daté were meant for any of them. The humility that went a long way? Gone, forgotten.

Tahtib, truly a smaller version of his father, seemed an ant before Daté. It was an image made from a difference in age, and the context Upright had surrounding the grovyle. Nonetheless, Tahtib had his paws raised for a fight.

 _Thud._

The entire tower went silent. Several commanders ran over to the edge of the observatory. Khridoli had jumped down.

The room was so absent of spirit, Upright easily heard the pangoro's booming voice. "Whenever we deem that an expert fighter has applied, a commander will take it upon themselves to test this pokémon in another applicant's stead."

Tahtib looked utterly defeated, but Daté found it nothing but amusing.

"Also," Daté yelled, "it is usually the case that this replaced applicant may still receive a chance to prove their ability against a superior adversary. What d'ya say, little guy? Wanna scrap for a bit? I went and switched us around in the roster to get this chance. I'll be real sad if you refuse this opportunity."

 _It sounds playful_ , Upright thought, _but I swear on my life he plans to maim Khridoli's kid._ Why though? Why arrange such a fight?

"You arranged your fight, and yet you talk about rules?!" Khridoli shouted. He jumped onto ring three. At this point, the other applicants had long retreated to the sides of the room, though no place seemed truly safe. "Face me instead, traitorous bastard!"

"I didn't want to bruise a poppa in front of his cub," Daté jeered. "But if you want me, you can have me!"

They launched at each other. Explosions of speed and strikes rang in the air.

Upright became rigid with fear. _I… I can't keep up. I see every move their making, every single move, right in front of me… but none of them make sense._ Khridoli's explosive punches. The bladed leaves on Daté's wrists. They were close enough to feel their opponent pant, yet neither landed a blow. _How? How are they so close yet avoiding everything that's thrown at them?!_ They were on another level, another _planet,_ one where the laws everyone else abides by didn't matter.

All he gathered was that Daté, though he slipped through the lightning-fast swings and kicks with short hops, occasionally moved a foot back. Then two feet. Three. A glimpse of lost ground.

Soon, Daté was at the edge. His eyes shot briefly to the position of his feet, just before he leaped back. If Upright noticed it, it had to be a mistake.

So it was. Khridoli's arm shot out, clutching the grovyle by the neck. The space behind the ring became blurry, brown-tinted; the impact of the grab sent dust flying everywhere.

"When I'm done with you," Khridoli roared, "Arceus'll marvel at what I did to one of his creatures!"

"Tear into the bastard!" A voice cried.

"Do it, do it!"

"Show 'em what he gets when he ruses 'ta Initiative!"

" **ENOUGH, ENOUGH I SAY!"**

Khridoli winded down, his chest heaving from unadulterated fury. His eyes turned towards the observatory – higher than that.

From a small compartment Upright never noticed, a hunched pokémon made it way out onto the precipice. From its vantage it reigned supreme over them all, despite its age, actually, because of its age. Its shiny green carapace shone dully in the sun that leaked through the higher tower windows.

 _This has to be the Master Adventurer._ Upright marveled at the grand figure. _He's here to exile Daté in front of the entire Initiative!_

The Master pointed a claw at ring three.

"Khridoli," he roared, "how _dare_ you?"

 _What?_ Khridoli's rage dissipated. Somehow, him and the chorus of cries were in the wrong. He dropped Daté, too stunned to move.

"Firstly, you detracted from our other applicants with this show of yours. I demand that you resume orientation immediately."

No one moved on the bottom floor.

" **IMMEDIATELY!"**

Pep, Hard-day, Lilith, Mara, Tahtib; they raced back their rings as if their lives depended on it.

"Secondly," the Master announced, "no one shall ever harm our shining emissary."

" _Shining?"_ Regal howled. The word as a question sufficed, but she went on. "He arranged for me to witness my own son brutalized!"

The Master Adventurer began the walk back into the shadows. At the very end, halfway covered, he declared something that shook the foundations of the tower they were in:

"Despite his flaws, he is a part of us. Now leave him be and resume orientation, commanders." He disappeared into his station. "Daté, to my quarters."

Daté, to his credit, had the sense to quit goading the pangoro. Khridoli walked out of the tower - something told Upright he wouldn't be seeing his son's match. The grovyle waited a moment, then left the adventurers to fester in their confusion. A foul mood washed over the tower. Commander Regal, in spite of her outburst, went up on the stand to try and dredge up their old excitement.

Amory walked back from the group of commanders. He seemed tired, if a little relieved.

"Why did the Master let Daté off? He cheated!" Upright exclaimed.

"Too much to explain right now. Just be happy you didn't witness a murder; for a moment there," the cinccino admitted, "I thought we were to see the end of Daté." Upright recalled the shockwave sent out by Khridoli's attack, and swore to himself: if Khridoli had enacted his grab differently, he would have snapped the grovyle's neck. "Listen, Upright? All the other unlisted tired themselves out during the break. The commanders want you to take Daté's place against Tahtib."

Upright's words lodged in his throat.


	6. Chapter 6: The Results

**_A/N: there was a change to the ending of the last chapter. If this start is confusing you, go back and read it. Sorry for the trouble ;)_**

* * *

 _Oh no. Oh... no. I'd rather not._

The floor seemed to turn violently. _Soon_ , he bet, _that fight on the docks will seem like make-believe._ He didn't get hit in that fight. Chopped up legs... a vine to the head... _it'll be fine... l-like taking some nasty medicine._

He made his way down to the rings, urged to move on quickly by Amory. Marker was actually in the process of moving on up.

"Huh?" He said between heavy pants, "are you... scrapping now?" The poochyena wagged his tail tiredly. Upright nodded, his stomach queasy. "Remember to breathe. It soothes the pain."

Whatever kept the cinccino interested in him, he thanked it ten times over - without him flanking the ring, Upright had no chance of climbing up. The cinccino gave him an encouraging smile. Tahtib, though the frustration on his face was palpable, seemed to muster it up double for the lithe quilava. The little-pangoro raised his paws, flashing a toothy grin; _here's my chance to redeem myself_ , his eyes said.

" _Begin_ ," Regal called.

Tahtib began their fight with some chat. "So, you're one of the unlisted my pops picked?" He began to slowly circle the ring, moving in on Upright from the left.

The quilava talked, but also remembered to keep himself going in the other direction - the center of the ring was bad, and so was being approximate to a pokémon who claimed a commander for a dad. "I am, yeah. N-Nice to meet you?"

Tahtib laughed. "What's your story? Was my dad picking out tweeds when one of them came to life?"

That irked Upright. The smell of battle grew stronger around him, making his pointed nose flare up. There was even a remnant from the brief-yet-explosive fight between Khridoli and Daté. "No. I helped teach a lesson to some common thugs."

"Liar," Tahtib sang. "My dad has this habit. He always picks out unlisted that never make it. Gives him more time to focus on me." Tahtib didn't seem pleased by this, but definitely considered it a worse revelation for Upright than him.

It was. "Shut up," Upright hissed. This scent... a stupor... was getting intoxicating.

"You're just a geek the rest of us walk over. You even got Amory to pick fleas out of your pelt, huh?"

Upright frowned. That stung a little. "I know you're mad about Daté, but-"

"Geek!"

"But he's a commander! You have to call him commander Amory!"

" _Ring three, if you would please fight,_ " a commander said. The braixen's voice.

"Arceus, gladly!" Tahtib sprang forward, closing the gap their circle had made. Upright shifted back on his hind legs, having forgotten the advantage being on all four might confer.

 _Thwack._

Straight across the jaw. Upright toppled down, screaming.

The light in the room flickered dangerously. Upright felt twenty feet under magma. And the blood, the blood - he wasn't able to get a full breath it trying to run down his throat. All he felt like doing was writhing, groaning. It hurt. _Arceus, it hurts_ , he pleaded. _T-That jerk hit me when I wasn't ready... o-ow... please, make it stop._

"Call it," Tahtib ordered a nearby adventurer.

 _Grr... that stupid smugness! I belong here, I have to! I just have to!_

Upright threw himself up with a roar, but it bubbled into a pained yowl. Tahtib jerked violently at the noise and threw his paws up. With another cry he charged the little-pangoro.

If Tahtib had any training, it slipped his mind during that charge, traded instead for wild hits as the taller pokémon flooded onto him. He bashed Upright in the face once, twice, multiplying the awful sensation it left.

Upright managed to thank his new claws through the fog of pain and fury. They were perfect for holding down Tahtib's arms - his enemy was stronger, however, and he had just a moment to decide his attack. And with that moment, he left it up to instinct.

His maw opened up. A heat grew on his back.

A plume of flames covered Tahtib's head. The pokémon writhed, legs kicking yet too stout to budge Upright. If it was possible the little-pangoro would be crying for mercy right about now.

 _Not fun, huh? Not fun to get hit! Stupid little-_

Tahtib headbutted him straight in the maw. The fire stopped, replaced by a throbbing in the top of his muzzle. Upright coiled away, clenching his snout. Somehow, his opponent managed to quell the leftover flames. He panted, frenzied, the fur around his nose and his cheeks singed to a crisp. Upright slipped up to all fours and snarled. The pain of moving his muzzle blinded him like a flash of white light. Throbbing nerves blossomed from the punches he'd already received.

No time to howl. Tahtib ran over and slammed straight into his stomach. Upright wretched, clinging on to Tahtib's back with his claws. If the little-pangoro tried to slam him into the ground, Upright simply put out his hind legs. Standing, there was no chance of putting him down. Again and again this happened, achieving nothing but tiring them both out.

Upright never realized Tahtib's plan to leap off the ring. When Upright's back slammed into the ground of the tower, it was the worst pain yet. For a few moments he went limp, unable to process the foulest feeling of all – a blow along the spine.

Somehow, his body recovered. Enough, at least, to notice that Tahtib's next destination was the wall of the tower. Upright waited, feigning tiredness, until he felt the wall was nearly upon them. Then he coiled around Tahtib, so that the little-pangoro had no choice but to hunch, run head-first.

This yielded two surprises. Firstly, Tahtib kept running despite smashing head-first into the wall. Secondly, the wall opened up, because it was a door.

After a few more steps onto the bridge, they both spilled out onto the ground. Upright turned away from the sunlight, hissing – it made the pain in his head bloom twice-over.

In the distance, Khridoli was busying himself on a tweed, staring out over the Scar Sea. He turned to the noise of seething creatures. He stopped chewing on his tweed.

Seeing Khridoli filled Upright with fresh rage. He stood up and pointed. "You brought us out here on purpose!" He accused. How many words actually go through to Tahtib, who was bleeding from his forehead? Probably very little, since swelling had stolen all the sensation out of Upright's left cheek, making it hard to speak.

Tahtib got up and muttered something himself. They locked in the middle of the section. Tahtib pushed them over to the balcony, and Upright used his long legs to prop him up. They rolled across the ledge, each one urging the other towards a long plunge into the Scar Sea.

Upright had finally gotten on top of Tahtib and had his paws pressed against the bastard's nose, when a large paw ripped him a way. Tahtib nearly slipped over the edge with Upright's weight gone, but Khridoli luckily had two paws.

Upright tried to curl up to get another swipe in. The number it did on his spine made him freeze, afraid to move an inch. Tahtib kept swinging over tiredly, rubbing a paw down Upright's face, which the quilava simply accepted. His fighting spirit started to steadily drain.

Amory came out to the bridge. Several adventurers flanked him. They were snickering, while the cinccino found nothing funny about the situation. "Arceus!" He shouted. "Are you part-feral, Upright, or part-psychopath? Khridoli, you should check your son's face. Upright gave him a kiss of fire – were they fighting along the _balcony?!_ "

"You worry too much," Khridoli muttered. "My son is fine. This unlisted simple surprised him."

 _I… I surprised some flames all over his face… the rotten kid._

The quilava stared on, muzzle closed, blood from his maw piddling into the cracks in the stone. As revenge for his 'kiss of fire,' Khridoli unceremoniously dropped him.

That did it. Upright took in a long gasp, arched his back, and felt everything go black.

~~~VII~~~

Upright awoke to Doggy lapping at his cheek. The quilava peeled back the moment he realized why his cheek was soaked.

"Sit still," Doggy said, "the nurse said it helps the herbs grind up. You're in the Initiative's infirmary. Just relax."

"It's gross," Upright whined, his eyes wrenched shut to keep out the bright lights. His voice felt hoarse, different. As if he lost, or gained, something in his fight with Tahtib. The memory of the fight was gone. In its place, five or six minutes of unadulterated pain and violence. He'd never felt so… _alive._

Doggy completely ignored it, though he did quit licking. "So, Marker told me what happened. Lemme get this straight..."

Silence. Upright realized that Doggy wanted him to open his eyes. He did so, one at a time, taking in the medical bay one bit at a time. He saw Retch, the sloth-like beast, rubbing his legs angrily – an eye on the quilava, curious to see what landed him in the infirmary. There were other beds, occupied by applicants – the birds, Trotsky, and a few that must have been from later rounds.

Doggy ran into the middle of the room. "Okay. So you pin him down." The growlithe pinned down an imaginary foe. "You get real close –" he leans down – "and… _fwoosh_."Doggy's maw opened and he waved it back and forth, as if spitting flame.

"That sounds about right," Upright admitted. "I, um, I got carried away-"

" _So, so cool!_ " Doggy turned his head to the side. "Hey… why is it okay for you to do a kiss of fire on a complete stranger, but I can't lick your cheek?"

"I-It wasn't a stranger!" Upright exclaimed. Doing so hurt his jaw. "It was commander Khridoli's son."

Doggy began to snicker. Upright joined in, and it grew, regardless of the pain it brought. Soon, they were barking with laughter at how screwed the quilava was. _Khridoli is going to kill me for torching his kid!_ Even so, all he had to share was laughter. What an awful, painful, worthless, entertaining, wonderful experience! He hoped to never try it again, hoped to be forced to.

"You two," a voice called. "Please, be quiet. Other pokémon are resting." A tiny armodillo-like creature came padding up to Upright. He recognized her from the group of commanders, although her stout body hardly made her impressive compared to Regal or that fox. She inspected his injuries, having to get up on the bed to do so. "And you should be more polite!"

"Sorry," Upright whispered.

"That poor pancham is resting just across for you. How harsh, to recount a wild fight without letting him join in."

 _What?_

Tahtib _was_ in the bed across from his. Far enough for an inside voice to be confused, but Doggy and him weren't exactly quiet. The pancham's head had several bandages, a yellow herb crushed into a paste and used as adhesive. His eyes were chock-full of murder.

The commander left Doggy, Upright, and Tahtib to their devices. Several pokémon looked over.

"Doggy," Upright hissed, mortified. "You're blind!"

"How was I supposed to know that was him? I was carted off after I got vine whipped. You don't think this genius strider would know, if it were possible to know?"

"He's burnt."

Doggy gaped. "O-Okay, point taken."

"He's a _smaller_ version of commander Khridoli."

"Er..."

" _He came in at the same time as I did."_

"C-Character-building!" Doggy blurted.

At this point, the quilava felt embarrassed and frustrated enough to faint."What? Seriously, what?"

"I didn't tell you, in order to build your character. You should never be afraid to confront your adversaries."

"Oh Doggy, you hero, I could _kiss_ you right now," he threatened.

Doggy retreated, just in case the threat was real. "Golly, where's Marker? Goh-hoh-hoh, I heard he ran the rookie gauntlet." The topic-chande didn't work. "Anyway,...the fella over there looks calm already."

Tahtib shook his head at Upright, condemning him. Upright felt his back heat up.

 _You want round two in the infirmary? Bring it,_ he thought. Maybe not; his back felt ready to shatter.

"Marker is introducing himself to his dorm-mates," Amory said, coming in from the side at just the right moment. "You two have been in here for quite a while." He handed a paper to Doggy, then left one on the bed for Upright to pick up. "You two will do the same, once you've recovered. These documents tell you how the commanders grade your compatibility with their respective task, and who what dormitory you will occupy for your time here as rookies. Remember," he added, "for unlisted, some factors are evaluated on Khridoli's descriptions of you. So if you want to join a certain task but see a DNT or _not interested_ , try requesting a one-on-one. You have a week to select your courses and get used to the Initiative."

Doggy was already looking at the document. "Wait, what does _request_ mean?"

"Request for more information. Just read it as _very interested_ for now," Amory said. "Exspect an interaction with your _very interested_ commanders, and soon."

"Oh. Then commander Tairé is very interested in me becoming a leader." Doggy sounded disappointed. "Khridoli must have left out that genius striders work best alone."

He had one more document, which went over to Tahtib. It seemed he volunteered to deliver to Khridoli's charge, including his son. The cinccino shot him an appreciative glance. It was almost radiant.

 _Did I say something to make him so happy?_ Upright asked himself. _I did. I told Tahtib to call him 'commander.' It was just a comment..._

Upright greedily devoured the information on the first page of the document:

 _Underdogs…. Commander Khridoli…_ _ **DNT**_

 _Cheerleaders… Commander Roxxie…_ _ **DNT**_

 _Scrappers… Commander Sooth…_ _ **DNT**_

 _Leaders… Commander Tairé…_ _ **DNT,**_ _(a picture of a frowning fox was included)_

 _Scouts… Commander Steel of East Territory…_ _ **DNT**_

 _Infiltrators… Commander Regal… Very interested_

 _Field researchers… Commander Amory…_ _very_ _interested_

 _Cartographers… Commander Eatzle… interested_

 _Toolkits… Commander Austere…_ _ **Request**_

"So Tairé puts faces on every pokémon's report," Doggy said. Upright jolted, unaware that the growlithe was done with his own ratings. "Also that's a lot of DNT's."

Upright's ears fell. "I know..."

"I only say that," Doggy said, lashing his tail in victory, "because it means you belong _somewhere_."

 _He's right,_ Upright realized. _Even if the majority doesn't want me… Amory must be friends with Eatzle and Austere. I bet he vouched for me._

Though that wouldn't explain commander Regal's interest. She seemed furious at the _idea_ of Daté harming her son. After the bloody, fiery scene he provided, there had to be some kind of mistake.

"Sheesh, that cinccino underlined his rating," Doggy whispered. "What's he got for you?"

It felt nice talking to Doggy. Here was the one pokémon he could say what he needed to without worrying about any sort of repercussion. "I don't think a lot of pokémon like him around here," Upright whispered back. "Tahtib wouldn't even refer to him as a commander. Did… _do_ you know his brother? He defected to the Graces."

"She," Doggy said, referring to Grace, "keeps her facility top-secret. Grr, why would that even matter? His brother's there, he's here. End of story."

"Not too loud," he begged. _It is unfair, though._ "A-Anyway, how did you do?"

"Good!" Doggy barked. "Well, really…'

"What's wrong?"

"I got DNT in infiltrators. It was turning out to be my favorite. From what I heard, you sneak into dangerous spots and do high-priority, high-risk missions. _So cool_. Look at my report. What makes it so bad is it's, like, my _only_ DNT."

Doggy scored well in underdogs (bumped up to _very interested_ , in fact, when at the inn Khridoli didn't seem favorable of the idea), leaders, cheerleaders, and toolkits. For the rest, the worst was a _not interested_ , the most vague a _mildly_ _interested_ from scouts.

"Sorry," Upright said. "I'd give you my rank if it were possible. I think she made a mistake."

"Probably."

Upright blinked. "Sheesh..."

"Just playing with ya. Thanks, Upright. Anyway, let's see what dorms we're in." They moved on to the second page in tandem.

"Hooray!" Doggy cried.

"No!" Upright shouted.

" _Bullshit_!" Tahtib roared. The little commander scrambled over to punish his bad language.

It was probably due to them being unlisted under the same commander: Marker, Doggy and Upright shared a dorm. For their other dorm-mates, he read the names of Pep, Acker, Hard-day, Lilith, Barley… and _Tahtib._

Doggy realized who the last name likely belonged to. "Uh. Floor ten. We're gonna be high up, it seems. Have a pretty cool view of the Outside... hey, Tahtib, have you ever played eye-spy?"

"Just be quiet," Upright pleaded.

"Shut up, mutt," Tahtib growled.

Upright laid back in his bed. _At the very least_ , he thought, growing slowly warmer, _I'm an adventurer now. All that's left is what kind._

~~~VI~~~

Upright let himself be convinced to carry Doggy's documents along with his own, if only because the growlithe didn't have the paws for the job. They had just been given the okay to leave when a pokémon stalked up to them as they reached the door.

"Hi," she said, crouching down slightly. "My name's Pep."

"You're in our dorm," Upright said. "Hi."

"Is it okay if I go up with you?"

Doggy agreed for the two of them. "Wow, sure! Uh, you know, this is the first time I've seen a sylveon before." Pep was as catlike as it got, but her pink pelt stood out, even compared to the flame-orange of Doggy's own fur. And her eyes: they didn't have pupils, or irises, instead they were like two giant, diamond studs. Even with bandages wrapped over her entire midsection, she was put-together. "You're really something," Doggy said.

 _That's a bit forward_ , Upright thought. Pep seemed too skittish to mind.

"Let's get going," she said.

Upright tried to keep in mind that the hospital was in a tower to the left of the 'mess tower.' There seemed to be several exits of varying size, to permit larger pokémon injured in the Outside. Now technically on the other side of the mess tower, the Initiative stood over the open Scar Sea. The quilava kept his forward, afraid a look might take his breath away – or remind him of rolling around on the balcony, a scene he was unfortunately starting to remember.

"The directions on the document say its the tower _up and to the left…_ that one." He pointed a claw at a skinny tower. Something that interest him right away: windows. Perhaps there were some that pointed towards the Outside.

"How was your fight?" Pep asked him.

"It got a little gruesome," Upright answered.

"Mine too. Hard-day is in our dorm. He took up my entire body in one bite."

Upright almost missed a step. "That bandage – it's for _one_ bite?"

"Totodile can unhinge their jaw," she said wistfully. "I wish I knew that..."

"Don't worry about it," Doggy said. He gave her an encouraging nudge. But he forgot his followup, instead choosing to gasp. "S-Sorry! We shouldn't be budging into each other on these bridges. I hope I didn't startle you."

This finally coaxed a smile from Pep. To reply, she hopped up onto the balcony.

Doggy struggled against her instinct to cheer her on. "Er..."

"It's okay," she said. "I'm not afraid of heights." To prove it, she propped herself up onto her forelegs. The pain from her bite proved to be a little much, however, so she slipped back down onto the bridge. "Ta-da."

Doggy nodded. "So cool."

Upright scrambled to find out how to react, and ended up clapping like a simpleton. "W-We need to take a left up here."

"Where are you from?" Doggy asked. "Somewhere high up, right?"

"Sort of," she said. "Nowhere interesting, just another village. What about you?"

 _Good question_ , Upright thought. _I haven't really asked him yet._

The growlithe chuckled nervously. "I'm sort of deep-forest. I don't know my parents."

"Who fed you?" Upright asked, shocked.

"No idea. Someone taught me how to hunt, of course. They weren't around long enough for me to remember their face."

Upright considered the possibilities. _Is he covering for Grace? Is it possible for a pokémon to have no idea who it was raised by? Is he getting a rise out of us?_

But they walked on in silence, and Upright realized he was telling the truth. The idea of it became oppressive.

"Hey," Pep said. "I have a question."

Doggy rebounded right away. "Shoot!"

"The results of orientation. That we're adventurers now… that's not shown anywhere, right?"

"Huh. Upright, did you hear anything?"

 _Nope_. "Not sure, but I'd lean towards no," he said. It seemed the answer Pep preferred – and he saw no reason for the Initiative to announce their rookies.

Finally, they came up to the dormitories. Upright checked the document: _tower A, floor ten. So that tower across from us must be tower B. Also…_ he drooped down a little. _We're on floor ten. T-That's a lot of stairs._ Still, he helped Doggy push open the heavy double-doors leading into the dorms.

Luckily, it seemed they didn't have to go just yet; the residents were all gathered in the center of the first floor, mingling and introducing themselves. Upright noticed that a hallway lined around this meeting area – he assumed that each floor had a similar layout.

Everything gave off a positive vibe. Except for a hulking creature, kneeling over the two cubone Trotsky and Trixie. The two seemed to be unable to handle the excitement, and rather cower under the large adventurer.

A pokémon came to them. Upright didn't recognize remember a wooly lamb as an applicant.

"Oh, our injured friends are finally here," she cried. "I am your tower's custodian. If you have _any_ kind of mess, come to me and I'll help you clean it up. Look at this party your fellow rookies are having, isn't it just wonderful?!"

Upright nodded. "Sure! Have you seen a poochyena?"

The lamb pointed him to Marker, who was busy talking to Acker. The small mudkip was very animated. Marker backed away a little, confused by the pokémon's excitement.

Upright tried to return one out of many favors to Marker. "Hey," he called, waving to the poochyena.

Marker replied immediately. "Hi!"

"Do you have your document?"

Acker came up. He seemed totally infatuated with Marker. "Wait, you never answered my question!"

"Oops," Marker said, not interested in the least.

"Can you teach me how to snarl? My mom and dad say I'm not vicious, and I told them 'you know what, you're right (not surprising because you're older than me by a ton), I'm kinda not too vicious, what are some ways I can improve on this once I reach the Initiative?' And, well, my parents are pretty darn smart, they said to find a vicious pokémon to learn from!"

 _This creature's on the same floor as us,_ Upright reminded himself.

Marker cocked his head to the side. "I'm not vicious."

"You're a wild docile."

"No, I am a tame docile."

Acker stared at Marker for a few seconds. "Okay." The mudkip whipped around to Upright. "I'm Acker, pleased to meet you! Now, you might not have heard, but my mom and dad say-"

"I got that part," Upright said.

"Can you teach me how to be vicious? You really looked vicious!"

"No, sorry. I'm not too sure of it myself."

Acker paused. He turned to Doggy. The growlithe smiled politely. "Hiya! I'm Acker, you might not have heard just know, but my mom and my dad..."

Marker and Upright took their chance. They retreated, over to an unused corner of the lobby. "Uh, wow," Upright said. "Hurry, how did you do?"

The poochyena looked around anxiously. "I can't read too well." Marker ran over to a nearby table and picked up his document. He laid it down for Upright. "Can I be an underdog now?"

 _Yeah. You can be whatever you want._ Besides cartographers, Marker didn't score below an _interested_. Even Amory was very interested in seeing the poochyena become a field researcher. Upright felt the urge to consider how Marker's docility might factor into this, but chose to simply be happy for his friend. It had to feel great: he went from being scammed, to an adventurer, in a matter of days.

"Yup!" He exclaimed. "Though you can do whatever you want, really. Are you sure about this? You've got a whole week to decide."

"I want to run with a pack and chase away bad things from the pack," Marker declared. "In fact, I wanna chase things right now. Let's all play tag! I'll make Doggy it." He crouched down, ready to pouch.

"No tag," the custodian called from across the room. Several pokémon looked over at the poochyena, who bounced up and pretended to be sniffing a table leg. If even the custodian could pick out a movement from across a busy room, it went to show just how demanding this would be.

And that was beside the problems that weren't exactly a part of the Initiative. Daté. The Master. _I wonder why the Master would ever call Daté a 'shining emissary.' I wonder how Khridoli feels about me. I wonder how I'll clear this mistake up with Regal. I wonder..._

A painful creak entered his back.

"I'm going to test out the beds," Upright muttered.

He found the stairs and ascended, off to bed.


	7. Chapter 7: The Infiltrator's Office

"No matter what happens," Upright told himself. "Things are going to be great here. You know it."

He took a few steps away from the window. From the tenth floor, right near the top, he could see so much more of the Outside, far more than he did with Doggy on the ridge. If he went all the way to the left of the window, pressed his cheek to the glass, he could see the ridges leading up to Cutter's Alley – where he witnessed the green dragon Rayquaza for the first time.

With this view of the Outside, a seemingly endless expanse stopped short by a great mountain whose peak stood level to the tower, his heart yearned for the chance to set out. Forests, lakes, caverns, valleys… from the tower they looked like emeralds, diamonds, sapphires, rich in color, always rich, no matter how long his eyes were given to adjust.

A host of clouds floated down over the window, blocking out the view. Upright turned around to find Marker close by.

"Oh," Upright squeaked, a little startled. He wanted to be Outside so badly, he felt embarrassed despite having done nothing but stare out the window. "You're up early, too." Maybe it wasn't early – but he assumed a place like the Initiative would order them down when it needed them.

The poochyena closed in on him. "Doggy told me everything," he said. "I didn't understand most of it."

Upright laughed. "Don't worry about it. Let's just be the best adventurers we can, okay?"

Marker wagged his tail. "I can't wait to be in a pack with you."

"Me neither. Have you given any though about the other tasks? Or do you still want to be an underdog?"

"I have come to realize about every other task," Marker said adamantly, "that they are not things I wish to do. Although I do like to spread 'cheer.' The little blue one is choosing that, though, and every hair on me says to avoid him. For he is annoying."

Upright sighed. "That's fair enough. Well, maybe you can let me borrow your confidence. I have no idea- _Gah!"_

Upright caught the movement of a blue shape in the corner of his eye. Except it hadn't been moving, or even shifting around in place – it felt as though this pokémon was there the entire time Upright was contemplating the view. Watching… or waiting for a chance to get at the window it was eagerly eyeing.

The snappish reptile waddled up a few steps. It didn't make a peep, save for the scattering of its toe-claws.

"Hi?" Upright tried.

No response.

"You are very stealthy," Marker said. "You would make a good hunter."

The compliment had no affect on the crocodile. _That jaw_ , Upright thought, _it's just… wow. Huge._ It occurred to him that this must be Hard-day, the creature that tried to take Pep as a main course. Anything able to do that, let alone stomach doing that, likely had a screw loose.

Hard-day waddled with new purpose. Upright scrambled out of his way like he would for a tumbling boulder.

But his focus seemed to be on the latch of the window. Hard-day stretched up to reach it. His claw-tips scratched the brass latch, but it was futile.

As much as the idea of opening the window churned his guts, Upright volunteered his tallness to the effort. "E-Excuse me, I can get it." With a small grunt of effort he wrenched the thing open, then carefully, _carefully_ , he pushed it open a crack.

A pink muzzle popped into the crack. For the second time that morning, Upright yowled and nearly fell to the ground.

"Pep!" He exclaimed.

The sylveon dashed in. She shook her pelt free of dust, and crouched down awkwardly.

"Thank you very much," she said to Hard-day. The gator wagged his tail ever so slightly. "And you too, Upright."

The quilava pointed to the window, dumbfounded. "What were you doing-"

"No questions," she pleaded. Then her and her accomplice fled down the stairs. "See you at the mess hall!"

Marker let them slip by, curiosity making his tail stiff. He started to stalk towards the window – which now hung open, letting in a breeze Upright could only describe as delicious. "I wonder what is out there," the poochyena said.

Upright slammed the window shut. "Let's find out another time. Pep mentioned the mess hall. We should get going."

"Yeah. Everyone left ten minutes ago," Marker said.

They turned tail for the stairs, with Upright stealing a last glance at the window.

"Next time," he recommended, "lead with that."

~~~VII~~~

"Like I said, I have no idea." Upright scratched his head. "I mean, maybe she weaned a favor out of him. I'd be feeling guilty too, if I bit someone like that."

He wanted to say more, but the mess hall oppressed him with its sheer volume of pokémon. There was nothing quite like a chorus of smacks and chomps made by scores of creatures, some with a row of teeth _behind_ their row of teeth. Doggy seemed nonchalant, except for whenever a full-fledged adventurer passed by their table for a look. In fact, he took a chance to complain about it again rather than conspire with Upright.

"Why did they corral us to this corner?" Doggy asked. "Shouldn't we be getting to know our fellow adventurers?"

 _In other words, you're angry because our custodian told us we'll be served last._ Of course, Upright didn't dare say that out loud. "Maybe it's better to know our fellow applicants. What I'm doing _now_."

"The best way to know someone is to ask," Doggy muttered. "Go ask them if you're so tied up about it."

In a flash of spuriousness, Upright stuck his tongue out. Their custodian, watching over them like a hawk, just started to turn over when the quilava covered the expression with his cup. "Pah to you too! I'd like to see you ask that totodile anything..." he nearly choked on his water – all they'd been allowed to get yet. Luckily, his table was too busy fuming about the food situation to notice.

"Doggy," he whispered, leaning in.

The growlithe turned an ear in. "What?"

"I knew Hard-day's species. No one told me what it was."

"...Was that a problem for you?"

He almost became miffed again, but he realized that it _was_ a problem he kept secret. If pokémon were a smidgen less self-referential, it would have been a serious issue. As it stood, he had made a fine job of improvising. "Not anymore."

Doggy nodded studiously. "I see. Most pokémon are born knowing their species. I just assumed you did."

Upright smiled, a bit giddy to know that he was adjusting, learning, even while he slept. He had a real shot at this.

"Perfect. Now keep that smile on your face," Doggy told him.

"Huh?"

"To everyone else, you sort of flipped out on Tahtib, came back to the dorms and then slept without hardly saying a word to anyone. Also, you look more intimidating every time you wake up. No offense, Upright, but a lot of pokémon asked me if you were a hard-ass or something. So you can do with a smile."

 _A hard-ass? Never, ever…_ out of the many ways he'd choose to describe himself, that sat at dead last. "I had no idea," he said. "What should I do?"

"Pardon me, young ones!" Roxxie cried. The small commander bounded onto the table. Leaving his question without an answer put a nasty itch in the back of Upright's head. "It's time for you to receive instruction."

Upright looked around for the other commanders, curious if they schlepped the duties onto one pokémon – like they had with the announcements at orientation. He spotted Tairé, balancing an apple on his nose to entertain a group of adventurers. Though they all looked fairly grizzled, they found it amusing enough to applaud. And he spotted Khridoli. The look on his face made it obvious: he hadn't spoken a word since yesterday.

"We haven't provided you with very much information," Roxxie said. "Do not worry – this is for a good reason! At the Initiative, we want to cultivate every sort of adventurer. If we do not allow you to foster yourselves, how can we expect you to be effective when you go Outside?"

The applicants nodded amongst themselves, though there were outliers – Acker and Barley looked like they could use directions. _Please Arceus,_ Upright prayed, _at least tell us how to get started._

Roxxie failed to contain a giggle. "You won't see many adventurers the next two weeks. After orientation, we send those stinkers out on vacation. Sayonara! Take this time to visit those commanders that requested you, meet intermediaries who interest you, and sign up for courses." She waddled around, standing right in front of Acker. "I might even recommend you all go in this order..." the mudkip smiled and wagged back at her.

"Golly," Doggy whispered to Upright. "I wonder who she finds very interesting."

Roxxie then tried to charm Pep. The sylveon gave a fairly catty reply, licking at her paw and pretending the musharna meant to address someone else. The commander frowned.

"Well then… the entire Initiative is open to you. Including-" Roxxie became real sly – "breakfast."

That the crowd of rookies became disorderly would be a disservice. Upright found himself inches away from being a stepping mat. Even Doggy, though he apologized, tried to pounce over him. He couldn't leap clear over the tall quilava, and they both ended up on the ground in a confused pile.

"Hungry?" Upright hissed at the growlithe.

"A little. Get offa' me, I'll die if I don't eat within the next _five_ seconds! Strider's curse," he added, as if it needed legitimizing.

Marker bounded around them, well on his way to food, glorious food. "Five," he counted. "Four..."

Doggy untangled from Upright and clamped down on the poochyena's tail. "I can survive on these mutt-on chops!"

Instead of replying with a nip of his own, Marker snarled. "What was that? You called me a mutt, yet..."

Upright already knew how this conversation went. He headed over to the table at the front of the mess hall. If he knew about the buffet arrangement of pork sausage, fresh mango and eggs, he wouldn't have worried so much about the smell yesterday. His nose twitched appreciatively.

The three ate in silence, as did everyone else. They made unsure plans about their days, silent plans, and secretly hoped to be invited along by someone else.

After finishing a smaller portion, Pep became the first to ask. She slid on over, next to Hard-day, and those busy eating turned their attention. If she asked for a tag-along, it would make Upright feel safer on doing the same. He realized that Pep, whether by some product of last night or through her candor, had become quite popular.

"Hey," she said to Hard-day. The totodile exited his eating match with Marker – no grievances were had, since the poochyena was losing hard. "Want to see commander Sooth with me? It will be nice of us to spare her two different visits."

Hard-day started to tip the rest of his food into his maw.

"We should hurry, too. We can spare the other applicants the wait!"

Hard-day wrapped his jaw around the ceramic plate and started chew on that, too. He sprung up and they left with him still chewing away.

Then it became a neat affair. Those with similar interested introduced themselves a second time, running off the moment they could. _I went to sleep too early,_ Upright lamented. _I have no idea who… wait a minute._

Upright spotted the sableye from yesterday: Maxim was his name. The dark form stabbed the pork sausage with a claw, contemplating the way it sank in. _Maybe Regal made a mistake with me. I can still go with him, though._

"Hey," Upright said to Doggy, "I'm heading out." There was urgency in his voice: he didn't want the sableye to leave alone.

Doggy rose up himself. The breloom waved at him. "Me, too. Hopefully commander Tairé loves his unlisted enough that he won't lose sleep over me. This pup rides solo. Good luck, pal!"

"You too." Upright sprung into action, creeping over toward his fellow unlisted. The sableye caught on to his presence right away, giving him a sultry look – _how do you even emote with diamond-eyes_ , Upright wondered. Maybe the way Maxim's eyes dulled...

"May I help you?" Maxim asked.

"Hi!" Upright squeaked. "A-Ah. Hello. Want to visit commander Regal with me? I remember you mentioning-"

"I've visited her."

It was awful news. "Oh," Upright sighed. "That's good. H-How'd it go?"

Maxim basked in their sullen moods. "I thought Regal and I similar in disposition. She made me realize that I am… _immature_."

 _Regal… told off her own unlisted?!_ An apology was the most he could muster for Maxim's situation. "Sorry," he said.

"Do not be. I have discovered the benefits of being a 'toolkit.' You can construct plenty of clever traps. Oh, Austere showed me some..."

Upright tried to ignore yet another opportunity die. _Still. Maybe I should clear things up right away. To bring a pokémon all the way here, just to basically disown them. Khridoli let me know his rating of me beforehand. It's cruel, to say the least, to drop this one an unsuspecting rookie._

Maxim gave him one last, sardonic grin. "If you go further than I, tell me of what comes next."

"I will," Upright said. "Thought I'm sure she is mistaken."

"She was with me," Maxim said. Despite the strange gumption, it only made it easier to see the sableye's wounded pride. "She resides on the fourth floor of the vocations tower. This would be to the right of the mess hall we are in. Enjoy yourself."

Upright nodded sickly. "Thank you."

~~~VII~~~

"Fourth floor," Upright repeated to himself. "In the vocations tower." He closed his eyes, double-checking his route. There was only this tower directly to the right of the mess hall. The tower of vocations had ten floors, much like the dorms, each room occupied by a higher-up. Except for the first floor: the Master Adventurer resided therein.

Rooms one through three all had clear labels for their commanders. Yet the stock of white fur on the door of the fourth took Upright a moment to recognize. He sniffed at it – definitely Regal's fur, judging by color. In a way, the fur almost looked like a calling sign. It intimidated him slightly, adding on to the prospect of meeting Regal, which intimidated him intensely.

 _Come on_ , he silently willed. _Super easy. 'I think you put the wrong rating.' 'Oops, sorry Upright, thanks for coming in.' 'By the way, Regal, do you know how to quit being a hard-ass…_

Nowhere was safe from his constant doubting. _Oh, I also fought her son. Guess it slipped my mind._

Before his mind could object, he lunged at the door. He thudded rather than knocked on the fine wood.

"I am pleasantly surprised," commander Regal sang. "I did not expect such an early visit. Do come in."

 _Did we meet at orientation? How does she know it's me?_

Upright slowly trudged into the office. It smelt of lilac, yet not at a nose-searing intensity. There was a single round table with neat, organized stacks of paper. Commander Regal stepped around the desk the moment he came in. The mienshao's two scarves, a hundred-fold more graceful than Amory's, ran over the papers as she moved in. The scarves didn't displace a single sheet.

"How are you, Upright?" She asked.

"G-Good. I came by to clear up something."

The mienshao's smile faltered. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You put me as _very interested_. I was thinking, that must be-"

"If I have been expecting you, it must not be a mistake." Commander Regal was closer than a moment ago. He racked his brains, trying to remember when she took a step forward.

Upright also couldn't figure out her meaning. "Wait. So you actually want me to be an infiltrator?"

She nodded. "I _actually_ do. In fact... I am so, so sure. Would you be willing to take a free lesson from me?"

"What?"

"In this room. A class! One from my _Building Tolerance_ course, one of the essentials for infiltration. I am afraid it is a task that places you under a certain kind of duress. It is incomparable to other tasks, and requires special preparation."

 _A class?! This is good. More good luck. Everyone will want to know what it's like to take a class. A class from a commander, nonetheless._ Commander Regal read the pleased look on his face, and she drank it in eagerly.

"I see a 'yes' on that cute little muzzle," Regal cooed.

"I-I'm not sure if I make a good infiltrator," he admitted. "But I'd really like any help I can get."

"Okay. This class involves one simple exercise. Applied differently each class, it conditions you for situations in the Outside. Lay on your stomach, please."

Upright followed obediently, placing himself on the carpeted floor. Regal strolled forward and laid a paw on his back. She was so calm, calculating, Upright imagined her courses as different forms of meditation. A way to expel stress from the body, build tolerances to it – Arceus himself couldn't offer better.

She rubbed his back, the rhythm of each rub sending him into a stupor. Breathing instructions would come any moment now. She moved on to his arms, massaging them.

But he felt suspicious. Something felt… off. He should ask her to stop.

 _No. You can't afford to leave a stone unturned. Do you want to end up all bummed like Maxim?_

"Are you sure?" Regal asked. Her voice had grown heavy, her paws came to a stop at his left arm. "There is no easy class at the Initiative, love."

Upright closed his eyes, sighing. "Yes, I'm sure..."

Commander Regal wrenched his arm up, breaking it at the shoulder.

It took a moment. It really did. As if he was ascertaining the meaning behind an awful joke.

Then it came in a gigantic wave: pains, enough to make him nauseous.

He howled, kicking his legs out furiously in the hopes of kicking Regal, then continued because the gyrating distracted him from the pain. Upright lost control of his voice. He barked, howled, unable to contain it.

 _How does this hurt worse than fighting Tahtib? How does it, how does…_

 _Regal. I hurt her son. Revenge. Get out._

The mienshao blocked the door.

 _Take cover? Cover._

He used his good arm to climb back up to two legs. It was impossible to keep his arm from flopping – the instant he tried to move, a bit of vomit rose up in his maw. Still, he sprinted over to the desk, throwing himself over the top. Like Doggy had done in the mess hall, he clipped the top with purpose, bring it down in front of him.

 _Covered._

He curled up into a ball, an intense heat bloomed across his back.

Commander Regal hummed to herself. "Oh, interesting. I am coming round to get you."

"Stay away!" Upright shrieked. "Stay away from me!"

"What are you going to do?"

"Blow everything up." To prove it, he jetted his flames, high enough for her to see over the desk.

She tittered. "You think a bit of flame will stop me? It didn't stop my son."

 _It is revenge!_

"I'll make sure all these papers get burned!" Upright screamed. "And I hope it's a real inconvenience!"

Commander Regal laughed. "Oh, my. You might not be another write-off. My mate, hm, what a wonderful creature. He has an uncanny talent for bringing in the interesting ones."

Keeping his flames primed for so long had made him tired. "Go away..." his arm still throbbed painfully, yet it had the odd effect of lulling him towards sleep.

"You have such a gorgeous temperament. So reticent, until attacked. Viciousness does best coiled in a gentle spring."

"Hurt… a little," Upright huffed. He reached his limit – if Regal wanted to do something, she owned the advantage for it.

"This class is over," Regal said. "I hope the next time your arm breaks, you are more inclined to reason."

 _Build tolerance._ "Sorry," he muttered. "Can I go now?"

She chuckled. "And like the tide, it rolls back again in a matter of moments. Do I have permission to tend to your arm?" Regal asked, even so there was no chance the dazed creature sparked a flame.

"Okay."

While she was securing his arm in thick linen, a burly voice interrupted their interaction. "Wait right here, kits," it said. The voice belonged to Khridoli. He must have gathered those who interested him, for a discussion inside his office.

He busted into the room after taking a few sniffs of the air. Several rookies poked their heads in, too curious to listen well to the commander. "Regal," he growled. "Please tell me this is the product of some accident, and not some 'test.'" Upright whined and covered his head with his good paw.

 _No, don't let them see me like this. Arceus knows what they'll make of it…_ nowhere to hide.

"I offered him a class," Regal replied. " _Building Tolerance._ "

The rookies began to talk among themselves.

"He _asked_ for this?" A dunsparce asked.

"Who asks for such a thing?" another applicant chimed in.

"He looks real feral. Marker, is your friend crazy?"

The poochyena peeked in farther than the other applicants. From the looks of things, he was already fitting in well among the group. "No," he guessed, slightly confused by the scene. "Upright is very timid." None of them seemed to believe the poochyena. And, to salt this growing wound, Tahtib appeared out of the woodwork – of course his father was interested in seeing him become an underdog – to provide some choice words on the situation.

He played innocent in front of the small crowd. "Wow, dad. Mom really does know how to pick out the crazy ones."

"Quiet, son," Khridoli growled.

"He won't be trying to help _me_ 'build tolerance' when I am asleep at night, right?"

Upright, worse for wear in the wits department, decided it was a good idea to open his maw at the punitive brat. Tahtib fell into a defensive stance, yet raised his arms instinctively to protect his face. Somehow, like he knew to go behind the desk, Upright understood it as a sign of weakness.

"Yeah, there you go. Throw those paws up," Upright spat. "Like it'll help you."

"What _is_ your problem?!" Tahtib asked, feigning shock. The other applicants shrank away from the doorway, and Khridoli rushed in. He began to usher Upright from the room, arguing with his mate all the while.

"Every year," Khridoli groaned, "you injure my unlisted. Can't you break your own unlisteds' arms? Or create a better test?"

"Mine never let me break their arms," Regal whined. "I asked him if he wanted to stop. It was all very consensual."

 _No… don't tell them I let you do it!_ Upright wanted to scream. _I didn't know you would hurt me… except I did know._ There was every opportunity to quit – the animal in him saw the surprise coming from a mile away, yet another part of him, the part desperate to be think things through, said _why not?_

"We will talk about this later," the pangoro said, growing haughty. "In our room."

"I _love_ it when you get angry! Show me those fangs of yours, big guy." The rookies giggled – it was cut short as Khridoli's paw pushed Upright past them, and they all got a good look at the frazzled creature.

His reputation swirled down the drain in mere moments. No one would ever want to be caught alone with him after this, after learning how he decided it would be a good idea to let commander Regal take hold of his arm. As a silver lining: he performed well. What doing well meant for the future eluded hin.

 _Great work 'turning over the stone,' Upright. Real smart, considering you had no intention of becoming an infiltrator in the first place._ Marker gave him a sympathetic head-tilt as the quilava went on to find another prospect to ruin. One thing was for sure: his perspective of the Initiative shifted once again, and Upright no longer felt things would end nicely. _I want Amory_ , he concluded sullenly. _I just want to be a researcher already._

He wandered down the steps aimlessly, wondering if he might leave the Initiative for a visit to the R&D warehouse.


	8. Chapter 8: The Timestop

Upright wanted nothing more than to visit Amory. So, Arceus, master of little hitches, made sure he arrived at the Timestop _just_ as it closed. Of course it would close.

The quilava huffed and leaned against the balcony. Here came thirty minutes of probing his newest wound: an arm broken at the shoulder, gift from commander Regal herself. He licked at it bitterly; if he focused, there was the distinct taste left over from Regal's burst of cruelty. Her real identity mark. It smelt like coagulated blood, and tasted like the mildewed ropes used to anchor ships.

"Already?" An adventurer asked. The burly nidorino slapped the ground with a forearm. "Kit, you can't quit yet! Give it time."

"I'm not quitting," Upright mumbled.

"Whazzat?"

"I'm not quitting!" He made sure to enunciate every syllable for the adventurer.

The nidorino gaped. "That's some gumption. You ought to know better than to mess with a scrapper. We scrappers lock horns with more ferals than the rest of 'em, you know? I'm a nice feller, 'cept when you mess with me. THen? _Whew!_ Hope you like diving, because I'll toss you straight off…"

 _Why am I so ornery?_ Upright asked himself. The memories of his first few hours in Pokéarth surfaced. He remembered what he had said:

" _I used to steal things until one of you caught me."_

" _I was_ _ **bad.**_ **"**

Tear welled up in Upright's eyes. Maybe it was a week's time. Maybe a week was how long it took before the person he used to be found its way back into his body. In a day, or two, Upright's rages would become the norm, his meager identity built up over the last few days obliterated. Again. Replaced with some lonesome thief. The sort of identity that left him friendless – no family – no home. As a _human_. As a pokémon, he had no idea how Doggy would react… the growlithe might have no other choice than to abandon him. He might be kicked out of the Initiative...

The nidorino inched closer. "Oh, kit, relax. It's harmless banter..."

"I want to be left alone," Upright pleaded. "Please," he added, using his timidness while he still had it.

 _Maybe if this happened the first day, I'd be glad. Or the second. Now… I think I don't care about who I was. This was my chance to be a good boy. Not fair, Arcues. Not fair, no, no, no…_

The grinding of the Timestop woke him up. A veritable army lumbered through, into the Initiative, their purpose oppressing the open air about the bridge. Upright almost panicked – if he had the will to get excited, a dozen pokémon in formation was the ticket.

Nonetheless, the army forced him to stand up. Plus, Amory led the slow charge at a snail's pace. The quilava's spirit instantly brightened, even so the cinccino paid him no mind. Instead, a large orb between his paws took every ounce of the commander's concentration.

The nidorino eyed the orb. "Ah, a memory orb!" He exclaimed. "Showtime at the Initiative, hm?"

"No offense to either of you," Amory growled. "Get out of my way. Out."

"Away," a serviper hissed, using its head to nudge Upright away. "The slightest disturbance could damage the integrity of the orb."

Amory waited a moment. Then he began his march again.

"What's going on?" He asked the serviper.

"There is a show on this orb," she replied. " Captured by Daté, of all the bastards to come by such a thing. We shall change the course of the Territory's future with this transport!"

"What show? How?!" He stuck to the edge of the bridge, keeping pace with the transport.

The serpent grinned, half-frenzied with glee. The sheer kinetic energy of the march was irrestible, even against the revelation Upright had about himself. "A second Territory, child. In the snow!"

 _A second Territory?_ Amory mentioned this during their first meeting: barring the existence of another Territory, Pathen and its own Territory was completely alone in Pokéarth. _This is the equivalent to… to discovering aliens, I guess! Amory actually found what he was looking for. Or, Daté did… that's a fine reason for the Master to call him a 'shining emissary.'_

" _Incredible._ Any pretty lasses out there in the snow?" The nidorino asked. Several members of Amory's company covered their chortles. It was such a contagious feeling, the feeling of great victory. Past all the indiscretions, Upright honestly felt as if he himself worked toward this. As a part of the Initiative.

A bell started to ring – from the Timestop's small kiosk. The pokémon meant to occupy the area was nowhere to be seen. No, he was: sprawled on the floor, its brown-furred legs poking out from behind the counter.

Amory stopped moving and, slowly, turned around. Pokémon, quite a few of them. None of them looked like they belonged on the other side of the Timestop. Upright had a feeling he knew what came next. Commander Amory offered the memory orb to a shaky sentret, and shouldered off a satchel around his side.

A roar rose above the bandits. "Thirty minutes to gut 'em, friends – they can't all retreat past the orb!" Amory's company formed a phalanx, barring the path.

 _T-They're coming past the Timestop_ , Upright finally concluded. _This band of pokémon mean to attack the transport! A-All I wanted was to visit Amory, how did I get caught up in this?!_

"Stand back!" Amory ordered. "You won't be much use with a broken arm."

"A-Are they Graces, Amory?" The sentret asked.

 _Commander Amory,_ Upright fumed. The cinccino looked the part, ready to fight for the development the Territory needs. "Of course not," the quilava snapped. "Why would they try to steal from Daté?"

Amory turned to him, his muzzle scrunched up with confusion. "Uh, good point. How did you know-"

"They're upon us, commander!" The serviper cried. She hissed, ducking under a stray claw. With a firm uncoiling, she managed to smack away one attacker. Another pokémon grabbed her by the top of the head, and she was forced to tense up just to keep her leverage.

The phalanx descended into chaos. Upright retreated by the sentret's side.

"We're only field researchers," the sentret said. "We aren't combat-focused! Rookie, go get help from the mess hall. Whoever is in earshot!"

"Watch your rear!" A researcher shouted.

"Flank, flank – ah, get your teeth outta there-" that was the nidorino.

A gigantic, frazzled bird landed behind Upright and the sentret. The way it composed itself made Upright dread what comes next: this bird certainly looked like it led a band of bloodthirsty bandits.

"So," the fearow chirped. "They send crippled 'mons on transports now?"

Upright tried to speak. No words slipped by the lump in his throat.

"Give me the orb, you squat little shits."

"Never!" The sentret cried. Several researchers were already trying to come to their aid. The odds of reaching them were hazy.

The fearow hopped forward playfully. Upright was hit with sudden inspiration. _If it worked on Regal, then maybe..._

"Back up!" Upright ordered. He pointed his back at the orb. "Or I'll blow it up!"

"You wouldn't," the fearow sighed. "It's worth too much to both of us. Maybe I'll share it if you're nice and hand it over quick."

Upright felt like fainting. "There's plenty of other pretty rocks out there."

"P-pretty rock? That's a memory orb, you dunce?"

" _Memory_ orb? Who's bluffing who? There's no such thing as a memory orb."

They stood at a standstill. The bird eyed him, wondering if he was stupid enough to really consider it a 'pretty rock.' The fearow chortled. "Your snarl ain't as snappy as you think, little brat." In a split second, the bird dove in, pecking at the quilava's broken arm. The flames on his back sputtered in the face of reemerging pain.

The fearow dug his talons into the downed quilava. Upright huffed, writhing beneath the incredible weight. When it broke skin, though, he did muster up a small whimper. Inside his mind, a tornado of emotions tore him apart – fear, anger, dread, guilt. It was nigh-unbearable. So much so, Upright almost wished the bird would cover it by pushing in harder.

"Lemme show how it's done," the bird squawked. "You, sentret, will tell your pals to surrender. Or else I give this whelp's cap a makeover."

The sentret gasped. "Why steal it? A second Territory opens new doors..."

"Like a bunch of icy pricks Outside can make west Territory less hungry. We need _something_ to warrant a look from the east. Isn't that how you adventurers set it up?"

 _Set it up, huh…_ Upright licked his muzzle. _West, east. Are there problems in the north and south, too? There's too many problems around here._ Like a talon in the back. Or a sentret doing a horrible job at negotiating for his life.

" _We,_ the pokémon you confront now, did nothing. Taking this orb will be an affront to everyone's future, no matter their upbringing."

"Tomorrow's the only _future_ worth mentioning." The talon slid up Upright's body, positioning itself aboe his head.

 _Golly. He's actually gonna do it._ All this worrying over nothing. In the end, he could always just die. Upright felt as if all the air had been sucked away. He felt weightless, floaty, time stopped moving the way it usually did….

"Looks like you're another bit of collateral, whelp-"

"Get your filthy talons off of him!" Amory yelled. He smacked the sentret aside, who willingly let his head smack against the ground, rather than drop the orb.

The cinccino kept pushing till the talon popped out of Upright's back. The quilava stood up, dazed. He craned his neck around to lick his wounds.

The fearow tried to laugh at the scrawny pokémon's willingness to go head-to-head with a beast twice his size. It cut off into an incredulous squawk as the cinccino grabbed onto his wing. Amory manipulated their weights as if he had the exact motions calculated beforehand, shifting the bird onto its back with a single twist. From there, the fearow scrambled for an answer as Amory went to work on his beak. When the fearow tried to retaliate with a sly peck, it only made the beat-down worse, and the bandit was soon smothered by blows.

Upright opened his mouth a bit, about to ask: _Amory, is that you?_

He hadn't really noticed. For all the excitement, the battle ended quickly. He'd say the bandits had misjudged the Initiative - which was odd, to underestimate a place which conditioned and trained fighters.

Amory stepped back from the fearow, who was now getting a taste of what it feels like to be beaten. "I ought to give you more," Amory said between pants. "Stubborn idiot. How dare you jeopardize our future? Would you like to starve to death Outside, when there is no place left to take refuge?"

"Forget the lecture!" The sentret cried. Two researchers, of the few able to stand, assisted in getting the orb-bearer back to his feet. "You knocked me down on your way. I… I think there might be damage."

"No!" Amory cried. "I was saving… Upright!"

 _Huh?_ The quilava thought. _What did I do now?_

"What were you doing down here?" Amory asked accusingly. "You're within your right to be here… _damn it all!_ If you _hadn't_ been here, then maybe… wait, where are you going?"

"I, uh, will see you later," Upright mumbled. Speaking was having his tongue swim through molasses. The temperate weather became oddly cold. "Gonna go to the dorms... rest a bit..."

Amory stepped toward the departing quilava, then pivoted to get another look at the orb. There were also researchers whose situations were dire; the serviper was unconscious, the nidorino wasn't able to remove those fangs from his side until they achieved serious damage. The cinccino gritted his teeth and abandoned the quilava.

"Gah. Okay. Go to the dorms," he recommended. "Go straight there, no detours. Promise me."

Upright hung his head, halfway through a nod he'd given up on."Okay, bye."

 _Did I almost die back there?_ He asked himself. _I… I think… huh. I did! Looks like Amory wants me to tell everyone we were attacked._

Upright scratched his ear and yawned. Where was he again?

Mess hall in the middle… vocation tower on the right… infirmary to the left, his dorm above that. He dreaded the long walk to the dorms, yet found he was already on the way. On the bridge there, even.

 _Now, when did I get here?_

He yawned again. He didn't feel tired at all – in fact, he felt as though he took a nap between point A and point B. That didn't make him feel awake, though.

With a tiny grunt he shoved the door the dorms open. There were several applicants already returned from their commanders. Some talked among themselves excitedly. Doggy, in the crowd, turned to Upright the moment his scent came wafting into the room.

"Upright!" He exclaimed, wagging his tail. "Did you hear that alarm?"

"That's neat," Upright said. "Where was this alarm?"

"Over at the entrance!"

Upright chuckled, an act that opened him up to another yawn. "Oh, I was there. Ha."

"Upright? Are you okay?"

"Sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

Marker titled his head, inspecting him alongside Doggy. Both of them knew about his class with Regal. The growlithe nodded to the poochyena; he decided that the quilava wanted to stay off the subject.

"So," Doggy began, "meeting with Tairé was actually… kinda fun. He took us to the gymnasium – there's like, a giant jungle just above that bridge to the Outside - and we did all these 'trust exercises.' Have to admit, it wasn't so bad-"

"Ah! His back's all cut up!" Acker cried. The mudkip had sneaked around him – all the applicants started to close in.

"Acker's right," Pep said. "Do we call the custodian?"

"No. Let him bleed all over everything," Tahtib growled. " _Yes_ , call the custodian!"

Upright's heart started to pound. Painfully. _"Ow_ ," he whimpered. The quilava took a seat. He wanted to lose all this attention. He felt as if his heart was beats off of bursting.

The custodian gasped upon seeing the quilava. "Oh! Everything's okay, dear. You two, help me lift him..."

Upright felt himself rise into the air, lifted onto a pokémon's back. Doggy's? The quilava yawned.

~~~VIII~~~

"Just let me talk to him, Roxxie," Amory pleaded.

Upright shifted in his bed. Not his bed – a cot in the infirmary. The quilava groaned, racking his brains to, once again, remember what warranted the visit.

"No way, nuh-uh," Roxxie said. "From what I saw at orientation, he really looks up to you. He may stress himself further trying to earn your trust."

"Thanks, commander Roxxie, for compounding my guilt."

"You _let_ the poor kit walk off while having a stress-related episode. How am I supposed to react?"

Amory gasped, seized by incredulity. "How about me? If we lost that orb, it would be the single largest tragedy to occur within the Initiative."

"I doubt it," Roxxie mumbled – Upright nearly missed it.

"… and that isn't a reason, I must admit. Did he… did he suffer at all from this episode? Arceus, what a mess."

Upright perked his ears up. _Stress-related episode? Sounds about right._

"Not really. Other adventurers saw him strolling around and taking small naps on his way to the dorms. Regal was interested in him for a reason. While balancing his mind, I sensed it: this quilava is capable of enduring a ridiculous amount of stress."

"What do you mean?" Amory asked, interested in any opportunity to assuage some guilt; he could pretend to have considered information in his decision..

"I could take your world, completely take away everything you know, invert it, and throw you back in without a care to explain why or how."

"Are you threatening me, or is this a hypothetical?"

"The latter - this time. Anyway, I could do all those things to you, and you'd lose your mind over it in a jiffy. I believe Upright could endure this, and much more."

 _That's… incredibly spot on._ Upright couldn't help adjusting himself. The two commanders looked over.

"Hi there!" Roxxie cooed. "Amory was _just_ leaving," The cinccino gave Upright an apologetic look and departed. "Stay calm. You're in the infirmary."

Upright nodded to show that he was aware. He felt oddly giddy – a giggle wouldn't be so hard to come by, despite his situation. "What happened to me?" He asked.

Roxxie's voice became low and soothing. "Do you know what a stress-related episode is?"

"I never heard of it. I think I had one.""

"You did. Pokémon are _very_ good at bottling up stress. It's how we deal with the pressures of socializing, fighting and surviving. Sometimes, a pokémon fails to relieve stress, and the bottle starts to overflow – and that is _very_ dangerous. Your mind becomes all foggy. You lose track of time, give in to instincts… in extreme cases, your heart might even give out. I think getting caught up in that terrible attack by the Timestop set you off."

 _I remember that. There was this pounding… I barely even responded..._ Upright shivered. He tried to imagine a way for there to be all that stress in his body, enough to harm him, without him ever noticing.

The musharna smiled encouragingly. "Don't be afraid! I balanced out your psyche: you will feel giddy for awhile, and then you should be at or around the head-space before getting into that scuffle." Roxxie chewed over her own words, becoming thoughtful. "This episode was the cause of a _lot_ of build-up. As commander of the cheerleaders, it's my responsibility to ensure that you are mentally capable to take courses. I need to ask you a few questions."

"I'm fine," Upright pleaded. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"No, you aren't. What's your favorite activity, little guy?"

Upright panicked, thinking he didn't have one. Then a few came, one by one. "I like play-wrestling with my friend, Doggy. And listening to my friends banter. And looking at the Outside. And… fighting. When it's arranged." _As in, not against a murderous bird._

"Very good. Those are some ways you might relieve stress… if you weren't in as extreme a state. Let's try: why are you so upset?"

 _I can't tell her about my week. One week, just one…_ "I've seen more new things this week than I have my entire life," he admitted. "I'm not sure I can fit in."

"You're withholding from me." Roxxie sighed. "Whatever the root to your problem, you won't be free of it until you find someone you can trust. Not only a confidant, like your friends. You need an authority who can direct you."

 _Doggy hates leading,_ Upright realized. _And Marker wants to help, but I have a feeling this is beyond what he knows. Amory will bring me back to the infirmary if I say I'm human again. Oh! But Khridoli... Khridoli is too close to Regal. I don't trust either of them. Then… then…_

Upright smiled. "I have somebody." He tried to appear excited for a future talk that wasn't ever happening. "I'll get it all cleared up tomorrow."

Roxxie bought it. "Promise?" She asked, grinning victoriously.

"Yup! Am I free to go? I want to tell my friends I'm okay."

It took a moment, but the musharna nodded. "Okay. Straight to the dorms. If your friends grill you about the attack, politely ask them to stop. Double promise?"

"Double yup," Upright said.

He climbed out of the bed. His back flared up – there was still the physical maladies to deal with.

Once he opened up the door of the infirmary, and got a safe distance away, Upright gave up on smiling.

He needed a pokémon he could trust. One that understood what he was going through. One that he saw as an authority. Not Doggy, Marker, or anyone else in the Initiative, none of them fit.

The thought that came next filled him with dread, despite his leftover giddiness.

 _Grace might work._


	9. Chapter 9: An Adventure Unfolding

"Upright, you've gone quiet. You okay?"

Doggy waited for a reply. The quilava was busy finding the right words, curled up on his bed.

He chose a few. "I'm okay." More like crashing. The giddiness from Roxxie's treatment had worn off. A sense of dread stood in its place. "I just need something."

This incensed the growlithe. "Oh? Come on, weirdo, tell me."

 _I need to ask you_ , Upright thought, _where I can find Grace. It'll put both of us into jeopardy and ruin your dreams of being an adventurer. It's this or nothing._

Doggy admitted he joined the Initiative because of Upright. The quilava couldn't bring himself to ask such a question.

"...Is there anything to eat?" He asked instead.

The growlithe treated the order with respect. "Okay. Uh, we eat on a schedule. Dinner isn't for awhile... Yikes. We aren't having dinner, everyone is going to watch the orb Amory brought." He drummed his forepaws against the ground in frustration. "Sorry, I think you'll need to wait until tomorrow." He added, with a grin, "you big snorlax."

An image of a ginormous, lazy pokémon came to mind. It amazed Upright how that information snaked its way into his head. Despite his state, it made him chuckle. It made him determined. There had to be a way to discover Grace's whereabouts without the growlithe. Perhaps if there was somebody like Doggy...

 _Wait. If I can find one of her thieves, they will bring me to her!_

Maybe he could guilt Amory into the location of a few – considering the cinccino's brother was in the Graces, Amory might keep tabs on the group. It was unlikely, but his best chance as well. "Hey, Doggy? Commander Amory has an office in the vocation tower, right?" Despite spending his time at the warehouse, Amory would likely be on-site, to handle the orb.

Doggy shook his head. "On the Word from the others is that it's abandoned. Just a whole bunch of stuff laying around. It's strange for a cinccino to leave things dirty!"

"Just… papers and stuff? Old reports?"

"Upright. Out of everything here, what makes you think I cared about a dirty room? Gah-hoh, I'm so pumped for courses!" He tried to get the quilava to stand. "Come on! Be pumped up with me!"

He complied and stood up with a smile. "Thanks for spending time with me, Doggy. I think I'll go for a walk."

"No!" The growlithe barked. He leaped in front of Upright, blocking his way to the stairs. "Not on your life, okay? Sit down, take some deep breaths."

"What are you doing?" Upright asked. It occurred to him. "Doggy… I am not having an episode."

"Oh. er..." Doggy scratched his head with a hind leg. "The custodian said to be wary of you going for a 'walk.'"

"Unless more bandits attack, I'll be okay."

"Well, okay. I'm going to visit commander Tairé. He said he wanted to see me in private. Probably beg me, or whatever… ha." The growlithe allowed his friend to pass.

He had lied, the walk was ill-destined. But Upright knew that there was no other choice: he had to steal from Amory's office. At this point, he couldn't figure out whether it was a stroke of genius, or another in a line of mistakes.

~~~O~~~

 _He wasn't on the first three floors_ , Upright thought. _He must be higher up._ He walked up the stairs, caught in a storm of doubt. Stealing from Amory, even peeks at his old reports, felt wrong. In every way: as a friend, an adventurer, and as the self he was slowly losing. But he had to. He had to, or else he would be out on the streets of Pathen, alone and unable to fend for himself.

Without realizing it, he came steps away from Regal's room. The door was ajar, the mienshao was in, and they locked eyes for a moment. Regal stood up, smiling. Her tail wagged with eagerness, and she already had words prepared.

Upright ran past the door and up the stairs, on all fours. He hid behind a banner hanging over an open window.

 _If I need to leap, I will,_ he swore. Upright shook his head. _What?! No, you loon, keeping going up. You know she won't chase you._

He took a moment to catch his breath by Khridoli's room. Thankfully, the pangoro was out. When he was confident the danger had passed, he continued.

On the sixth floor was the cartographer, Eatzle, busily painting a new banner. It had ranges of snow on it, as well as a bright sun overhead. The beams shot down in symmetrical rays, landing on a blotch of valleys at the end of the banner.

 _Where did the smeagle find time to paint this?_ Upright wondered. It left him mystified enough to ask. "E-Excuse me, commander, when did-"

"Not interested," Eatzle replied. Upright squeaked out an apology and continued.

It took him a moment to realize: the commander was referring to Upright's chances as a cartographer. He dreaded how his episode affected his chances.

Seventh floor. Big painted letters spelled out ROXXIE. Upright figured she, like Amory, worked at her station, the infirmary, rather than her office.

On the eighth floor was Amory's room. A scent of dust floated out from the room. It seemed unused for years.A desk, peeling from years in the sun, had piles of papers strewn across the top – as if Amory left in a hurry. There was a stool for the short cinccino to reach the top. It would be easy to walk in and read whatever he wanted.

 _Arceus. Am I really going to do this?_ A jolt went through him. _The door to the room was open. T-That must mean someone has been in! I've got to do this now!_

He hurried into the room, shutting the door behind him. Right away, he went nosing into the papers on the desk:

 _Report on snippers…_

Upright read a few sentences. "Pliers," he whispered.

 _Report on screech-boxes…_

"Radio."

 _Report on lightbringers…_

Upright took a second glance. He couldn't determine what it was, based on the summary:

 _Releases flash of light, loud noise. Very unpleasant._

"Grr, these are all reports! Perhaps there's something in the drawers."

The front drawer on the desk – which in itself felt like a relic compared to the pokémon's handiwork – was locked. But that didn't matter. He was a pokémon! He could wrench it open with his strength. Upright tugged hard, pushing back with his hind-legs.

The desk leaned onto its front legs. This was a _really_ heavy desk, and Upright found himself slowly being pushed down. It towered over him. He let out a yowl as it crashed on top of him.

Somehow, he ended up in the knee-space of the desk. Upright's instincts told hm to flee after the loud noise, but a hollow hole caught his eye. The drawer's front was bolted to the desk, yet the inside was hollow – except for a card taped to the top. One would need to climb under the desk and reach in to discover it.

Upright removed the card. On the front was a picture of four faces sculpted into stone. One of them was picking its nose, to the disgust of its friends. The faces were distinctly human, and this was definitely a relic.

When he opened up the card, strange music blared out. The quilava cried and shut it again, but curiosity dictated he listen to the full song.

The song played while he read the message on the inside, one part in print and another in a messy scrawl spanning both sides. It reminded him of an anthem he heard before:

 _May you be presedential for your birthday!_

 _Hello brother,_

 _I am super, SUPER sorry everyone gave you a hard time. I accept full responsibility. Except, how was I supposed to know rubbing that tiny stick on the scratchy-strip would make fire? You have to admit, it was funny, and nothing valuable was lost._

 _Thank you, Amory, for deciding to be a researcher with me. Your decision surprised me, and made me really happy. You always keep me in line, making sure I get work done and ensuring none of the relics tip over into the docks. I never imagined we would have such perfect lives, after struggling in the forest for so long._

 _Happy birthday, Amory. I hope you like the card – I love the catchy music!_

The music cut short. A strong claw forced it shut around the Upright's paw. It didn't stop there, not until the startled quilava was close to crying out in pain. He was slowly dragged out from under the desk. The desk made another slam as the newcomer let it fall back to the ground.

"You little brat," the voice whispered. "Sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

 _I know this identity mark. It's Daté._ Alarms went off in his head. He was all alone with the Grace.

The grovyle tossed him down to the ground. "What are you doing in my new office?" He spat.

"Your office?" Daté took a step forward. "Nothing!" Upright cried. That didn't stop the grovyle. "Nothing, nothing, nothing-"

Daté wrapped his claws around Upright's muzzle. The quilava breathed as hard as he could through his nose – desperate, short whistles of air.

"It can't be a coincidence. An hour after being appointed as head of the Territory Guard, you are snooping about my quarters. With a relic, no less." He picked up the card. "What does it do? Records my voice? Alerts you of when I leave?"

"It's a _birthday card_!" Upright wailed. He wailed wordlessly, hoping to catch someone's attention.

"Go ahead and squeal. No one will hear you unless they stick their head near that door." It was true; nobody heard Regal and him until Khridoli walked by her door. I mistook you for someone with wits. Integrity, at least. But mere days into your stay, and they already have you stalking me, trying to incriminate me."

"I didn't know you were given this office. Read the card," Upright pleaded. "It's Amory's."

"Don't talk. You might a be a damned whelp, a human, whatever, but that won't save you now. I can toss you straight into the Scar Sea and no one will know it was me. From what I heard? Your friends will assume you had an episode and decided to take a plunge."

"R-Read it..."

Daté relented and opened up the card. He seemed disgusted by the music at first, but he slowly became docile. "Fine… you have _seconds_ to explain yourself."

"I… I am very scared. And I thought Grace could help, s-so I wanted to ask Amory. But he is busy... so I decided to look at his stuff instead, in case they told of someone who would take me. I just want to ask for her help, w-what am I supposed to do… why are you yelling at me?" And then, the quilava fell into a fit.

Daté perched himself on the desk. He shook his head. "Damn it, child. I was _this_ close to getting rid of you. Thank Arceus." Upright replied with more sobs. "Gah… I'm not here to deal with your fits. The only reason you want to see Grace is because she discovered you. Your crummy mind likely thinks of her as mommy."

"I _need_ help," Upright begged. "I… I-I can't do it on my own."

"This is annoying. You want advice from someone you trust? Take it from me. You can trust me, because I have everything to gain from your sanity. You can't become a liability in my plans."

Upright sat up, sniffling. At this point, he was willing to listen to anyone.

Daté thought about it for a moment. "Follow me." His claw grasped around Upright's paw. The quilava allowed himself to be pulled. They left the dusty room and started up the stairs. The journey ended, unexpectedly, at the next floor. They stopped in front of a metal door.

"This is Austere's office," Daté explained. "He's the one smart bastard in this entire place. Listen to what he has to say." He reached forward and pressed a button. A large buzzing went off behind the door.

 _A doorbell?_ Upright wondered, sobering up.

A charmander answered the door. He was small, around three-quarters of Upright's height. The expression on his face betrayed none of his expectations. Yet, in a way, he seemed to already have a grasp on the situation.

"Good afternoon," Austere said. "At least for you and me, Daté."

Upright realized Austere was older than him, which unsettled him. _Why isn't he evolved?_ The quilava thought. _He could be a charmeleon by now. A charizard, even._

"You too," Daté muttered.

"Congratulations on your promotion. I assume you traded that orb of yours for the old guard position. We're all indebted to your discovery."

The grovyle glowered. "Thank you."

Austere smiled. "The Territory will be glad to have you watching over her. And you're Upright? Amory told me all about you. I'm very glad you visited." The charmander looked up at Daté. "I'd like to speak with you later. For now, this unlisted needs my help."

"Good luck with _that_ ," Daté said, before descending down the stairs. Austere gestured for him to enter.

Unlike the other offices, Austere's opened up into a full workshop. Benches, legs lowered for their user, lined on the far wall. Along the closer wall: kegs with a familiar scent. Upright was drawn to it – it took all of his willpower to stay away.

Austere went around, picking up odds and ends he left on the floor. "Sorry for the clutter. This is one of my independent projects. This is a brewery – you might have seen the vineyard below the exercise area. Don't wait to tell me your problems. Just know, I've never helped a human before."

Upright jolted. "I'm not-"

"No need to lie. I can't blame Amory for doubting you – the last claimant caused disasters for many of the commanders. But you have an inherent knowledge of relics, you are panicking like I would expect one to, and your mannerisms have a stench all their own. And, of course, Daté cared enough for your well-being to send you here."

Somehow, the complete lack of judgment took away the shock. Upright felt… _fine_ with Austere knowing his secret. The quilava asked the question burning a hole in his chest: "what do I do?"

"There's nothing you can do. Thankfully, due to the Initiative's past, no one will dare propose it. Eventually, however, there will be rumors of your differences."

"Please. I can't be different. I need to fit in."

"The Initiative doesn't have a norm. Do whatever you like: that is how you fit in."

 _He's not helpful at all_ , Upright lamented. "Easier said than done. I don't know what I like. I arrived here certain of what I wanted… but I'm losing myself. I'm becoming who I once was."

"Don't be silly. Your only afraid of change. Changing is what a pokémon does. I know little about this vein of transformation, but I will assume this: your humanity is completely abolished. It is a trace of humanity that powers relics. Come here."

Upright came forward. The charmander laid a claw on his shoulder. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Trying to adopt your soul as a garment."

"Gah!" He lurched back, afraid of the idea.

"Don't worry. All I felt was fur and muscle, the blood underneath… you're not a relic. You're a quilava in the present, and you have to start making decisions based on that description. Close your eyes, now. I want you to focus only on who you are _at this moment._ You are Upright, not a human named Upright. You've been in the Territory since you were born. You are a mass… of instincts… feelings… ideas... what does this Upright want to do? Don't be afraid of surprising yourself."

Upright shut his eyes. All he could hear was a churning from the kegs. "I'm n-not sure."

"Do you want to work with Amory?"

"I… but he..."

"I'd accept you as a toolkit. Do you want to be a toolkit?"

"I'd..." Upright exhaled. "I maybe, er, don't want to be stuck in rooms like this."

"A-ha. No offense taken. Good. What about the other vocations?"

Upright rubbed his muzzle. "Well, since you mentioned it. Cheerleading sounds obnoxious. Point out problems in others and hope they fix them. I don't have the patience!"

"Any opinions on, say, commander Khridoli? You're his unlisted, after all."

It came out suddenly.

"Khridoli is an ass," Upright growled. "He needs to discipline his bratty child, fix his attitude, and reign in his mate. Arceus's sake, she _assaulted_ me!"

"That's vicious," Austere mocked. "Is that the _evil_ human side speaking?"

"No! It's common sense! Everyone thinks I went too far against Tahtib. I did what _everyone_ wanted to, sorry if that makes me a hard-ass! It's plain bad luck. Like I wished to be involved in that scrap by the Timestop, or lose my mind. If no one can take a moment to empathize before judging me, well then, maybe I ought to be… ought to be... Gah! I'm pissed! When do I get my chance to show everyone who I really am?"

Austere chuckled and ran to fetch something. Judging by the scrapes, it was an empty keg. "Go ahead," the charmander said, "dig in!"

Upright fell on the keg, sinking his teeth into the top. He teetered over with it. His hind legs lifted up, digging into the wood. With a cry, he headbutted the top, splintering the planks. From there he used everything he had to tear it apart. Wood flew everywhere – the scent of burning cedar wafted into the air. Everything became hot, very hot, and his biting began to singe the wood.

It took several minutes, but Upright totally demolished the keg. He laid on the wreckage, panting.

"Did that feel good?" Austere asked.

"Yes," Upright answered. "Oh, yeah."

The stress, the dread, the panic: gone. What should come next was so clear, so obvious. For the first time, since he first realized his desire to explore, Upright felt confident enough to make a choice. Further, he felt new. He felt _himself_ again. "Thank you," he said.

"My pleasure," Austere replied. "You made Amory the happiest he has been in a long time. He has... _trouble_ showing gratitude. So accept mine. If you'll excuse me, I need to help that same minccino set up the projector for tonight." He scratched his head. "Maybe clean up a bit..."

Upright nodded and left the charmander to his devices.

~~~O~~~

Once again, the mess tower was full of both applicants and seasoned adventurers. Yet the turnout seemed higher than at orientation; from what Upright heard on his way in, off-duty adventurers were more than glad to sacrifice a night in town, for a chance to see the discovery of a new Territory.

It didn't take long for his dorm's custodian to spot him. "Hello, hello," she called over the clamor. She knocked over a wartortle on her way to the quilava. "Dear, where did you go?! You were not to be left alone outside of the dorm."

"I'm all better," Upright said. The flaaffy frowned. "No, really. All better!"

The flaaffy gave him several sniffs, then smiled. "Good for you!" She cheered. "Come, come, sit with your floor. We are about to watch history unfold!"

He was taken over to the rest of his floor. It wasn't long before he felt several eyes on him. When he caught Pep staring at him warily, he simply shrugged and went to Marker and Doggy.

"My pack is here!" Marker barked. "Doggy and Upright. Did you two trade faces?"

Whatever happened to Doggy in the last few hours, it had turned his attitude around. He no longer looked pumped. Rather uncomfortable, yet strangely stoic at the same time. "Hey there," he said. Reading something in the quilava's eyes improved his mood. "Whoa, you seem a lot better! Then again, that was a _long_ walk."

"I made a stop," Upright said. "How was your talk with commander Tairé?"

That quieted the growlithe again. "It was, well... whatever."

"I found the kitchen," Marker declared. "They let me have scraps. Why can't we have dinner, and watch the orb at the same time?"

"Why can't we do our business everywhere?" Tahtib mocked. "You're a mess, Marker, no wonder my dad likes you."

The poochyena huffed. "I would scrap you, but I am starving."

"Oh, Marker," Upright whined. "I'm as hungry as you are."

"...Me too," Tahtib admitted.

"It's starting!" Their custodian called.

They fell into silence. It was strange – a few days ago, they were on the top watching the bottom. Now, they all watched the Master Adventurer emerge above them. Not in his perch from before, but in the seats themselves – the perch was too close to the wide sheet draped across the tower, where the orb would inevitably play.

"Applicants, adventurers," the Master Adventurer cried. "Today, is a grander occasion than ever imaginable. Daté, our lost adventurer, traveled out farther than any pokémon has gone before. He has made, perhaps, a discovery that grants safety to our Territory. Another place of refuge, in the case of catastrophic events. A generation of adventurers shall unfold, starting today, who are acclimated to the idea that the world offers more than we assume, and more than the Initiative may discover on its own. To commemorate this event, we will first begin by announcing the names and tasks of those recruits who have already decided their role in this great undertaking."

"What?!" Doggy moaned. "No, don't do that!"

"Quiet!" Pep hissed. "I want to hear."

Upright clenched and unclenched his claws.

The Master Adventurer started to list the names of recruits. A small majority seemed to be scrappers, scouts, and underdogs, but there were several of the others. Upright could already imagine how it must feel for the master to say one's name.

"Acker," he announced, "a new cheerleader from East Territory."

The mudkip smiled proudly.

"Marker, a new underdog – and also the fastest to choose. What else can one expect from a docile?"

Marker wagged his tail victoriously, though the distinction sounded fairly neutral.

"With these discoveries, our new cartographers Barley and Hard-day will have their work cut out for them."

The totoldile stood motionless – perhaps he missed his name. The sandshrew they met before stared back at him.

"Gah?" Doggy grunted. "I'm lost."

Tahtib tittered. "Idiot, only unlisted are really predictable. Example : you're a scrapper, freak's a researcher, and the mutt is an underdog."

"Now we have two pairs," the Master said. "Flightly and Shock, two birds, two new scouts."

"And we have Jay, a breloom looking to lead, as well as Doggy, a growlithe."

Upright gaped. He turned his eyes to the growlithe, who was covering his head. "Did I, er, _mishear_ you these last few days?"

Doggy gnashed his teeth together. "Shut up, stinker. It's a long, _long_ story."

"When the leader is a moron, everyone's sole order is dying," Tahtib quoted angrily.

The Master Adventurer readjusted before continuing.

"We have Upright. A funny name, as he enters into a harrowing task. Hopefully Regal will make sure he isn't our _only_ infiltrator this year."

Doggy cuffed Upright in the head. " _Hypocrite!_ " He snarled jokingly. "But, seriously… huh?"

"Didn't she break your arm?" Marker asked. "Are you okay in the head?"

"I have a good feeling," Upright said. He turned to Tahtib. "By the way: you went one for three."

There were a few more names Upright didn't recognize. Throughout, he had a warm feeling – yet when Amory and Austere came onto the ground floor, wheeling out a large projector, it turned to anticipation.

"Now, without further ado: video of the other Territory and its inhabitants!"

The two bickered with each other over the controls. Finally Austere relented, allowing Amory to make a few corrections. Finally, the sentret from earlier placed the orb into a slot.

"Due to issues, the order of scenes on this orb play backwards," Auster announced awkwardly. "Please bare with it."

Flying pokémon doused the flames. Picture appeared on the screen above them.

From the looks of it, Daté had left the orb on a mound of snow. Due to its pearly surface, it was likely no one but Daté knew about it.

The scene was a snowy expanse. Rockets jutted out in places, determinable by slivers of gray or black in the snow. Yet, besides that, only the castles in the background gave the scene any perspective. Compared to the architecture of Pathen, it was a crude, functional place. Already, pokémon were pointing and commenting at every detail. Several were overtaken by the existence of a castle in the snowy wastes – others, namely Marker, were enamored by the video.

For awhile, the sound consisted of howling winds. Then, a heatmor appeared from the right. He wore a long cape, and a leather tool-belt frayed the fur around his waist. Surprisingly, the orb fetched words out from the howls:

" _Daté, are you sure you will not stay?"_ The heatmor asked. " _Allow us to send our own. We could use someone with your talent."_

Hearing the heatmor sent cries through the crowd.

" _I would rather stay. I'm not particularly fond of my Territory,"_ Daté replied.

 _Pathen's head guard, everybody,"_ Upright thought bitterly.

" _But,"_ he added, " _they need me. As it stands, they are not ready to initiate contact. They're… we're a slow culture. We need time, information. Our warmer climes give us room for such things._ "

" _From our battles together, and against one another, I must avoid calling you soft,_ " the heatmor said.

Upright rolled his eyes. "Doggy, isn't this so self-serving- Doggy?"

Doggy was growing more distressed by the moment. He titled his head, eyes wide with… _what is that_? Upright wondered. It filled the quilava with loneliness, seeing his friend watch the screen.

 _Daté chuckled. "You are too kind. As it stands, my journey has finished. It is time to return."_

" _Okay. But if you ever return yourself, you shall have a place waiting for you - in the high ranks of the Deathseekers."_

The growlithe whimpered. Marker leaned onto his friend, who replied by covering his eyes. Doggy refused to see the next scene, a walk-through of the streets of the Territory.

 _Deathseekers_ , Upright thought. _Arceus… why would Doggy say…_

He placed a paw on his friend's head. He hadn't seen the growlithe cry before. But he wept openly. Everyone was too enamored by the orb to notice.

He tried to speak. "I… it looks s-sorta, you know…"

"I'm here for you," Upright promised suddenly. "Whatever happens to either of you, I am here in full." The light of the projector danced across his fur. "I won't let you down. We'll get to the bottom of this, even if we have to go there ourselves!"

After hearing this, Doggy managed to compose himself. The orb continued, showing indoors, which made the growlithe nod to himself as if confirming a suspicion. They watched as Daté showed off rooms filled with bolts of red cloth, ornamental gold designs, and strange sharp tools.

 _What does the future have in store for us?_ Upright wondered. _And will whoever I become be enough to challenge it?_

It continued on, into the long hours of the night. He felt the curtains close on these first days. The grace period was over; he had arrived.


	10. Chapter 10: Six Months

**(A/N: in the last chapter, there was a cartographer named 'Wright' mentioned. The correct name is actually 'Barley,' the sandshrew from orientation.)**

Upright's ears perked up curiously. Staring out at the sunset, up from his spot at the training fields, he realized something:

 _Today's the six-month anniversary,_ he thought. _Six months ago, I fell into a lake as... me._ Upright refused to acknowledge the human who fell into the lake. _Back then it seemed like I barely had a chance._

The training fields were contained in a huge outlet, stretching out from the tower that connected the bridge. Standing near the edge made him queasy – but if he did, he could see the bridge leading to Outside. From here, all he saw was how the sunset cast the mountains in a warm orange.

He ground his sharp canines together. _Be patient, Upright. It's almost your turn to explore. For the time being…_

He threw his paws up. "Pep, are you going or not?"

The sylveon nodded, yet stayed glued to her patch of grass. "I-I… do I attack you now?"

"That's the point of your course and mine." _Tolerating Pain._ Twice a week, Regal took him out to the training fields. None of the recruits had a chance to experiment on a willing victim. There was another reason: the exercise conditioned panicked recruits to take their frustrations out on the infiltrators, rather than the cheerleaders trying to help them. It built trust.

Pep lifted a paw, ready to advance on him. She trotted forward a few steps, then dwindled off. "This doesn't feet right," she admitted. "May you please fight back?"

" _Yikes_. I am _this_ close to finishing the course, Pep. Do me a favor and charge?"

"Y-You won't hold it against me?"

"Pep, why are you a scrapper-"

"Okay, okay!" She took a deep breath. With a tiny mewl she leaped forward and got her teeth around Upright's neck. Pep pushed her weight into the tackle, dragging the heavy quilava to the ground.

It hurt, but not how it was supposed to. "You're not breaking skin," he grunted. "I can twist around and break free."

She lifted her head up for a moment, panting. "Give me a moment."

 _What feral will give you a moment?!_ He wanted to ask.

She went back to work, wrenching around, slamming Upright's head into the grass - hoping her fangs slipped through. His hide was tough, though that shouldn't have stopped Pep from breaking skin. Her claws hooked into his chest for leverage. The bite became harder, yet it was her claws that grabbed his attention. Their sting turned into a full-blown burning.

Finally, she started to draw blood from somewhere. Upright winced and, as he conditioned himself, forced his eyes open. Still he had trouble seeing straight. Seeing through pain proved harder than seeing underwater.

"That's enough," Pep's instructor called. The sylveon relented, showering Upright in apologies.

The nidorino came to inspect his pupil's handiwork. "Well. Looks like you are far better with your claws than your teeth. I think you won't be able to pin ferals, but you will have quite a swipe."

 _Strong claws_ , Upright thought. _That must be how she maintains her perfect poise._ His chest had two gashes, the points marking where each of Pep's claws entered.

"T-Thank you," she said.

"Are you okay, pal?" The nidorino asked.

Upright nodded. If he was in danger, Regal would have intervened. As it stood, this was an easygoing session. Compared to Doggy, who gave it his all out of respect… or Tahtib, who counted down the days to his turn. Both sessions ended with him in the infirmary.

"Thanks again," the nidorino said to Regal, "for letting these scrappers borrow your rookies."

The mienshao smiled warmly. "It's such tangible progress. Wouldn't you say, Upright? Don't you want to go a few more months?"

The answer came out quick: "no," Upright stammered.

~~~O~~~

Him and Pep were the last rookies to make use of the training field. As such, they were tasked with watering the garden lining the rim – though the quilava also took the chance to wash away the blood.

Pep leaned in to sniff a flower, the head of which dangled over the edge. Her claws dug into the soil for balance as she sniffed. Upright reminded himself not to panic.

"What did you do before this?" He asked. "You can't say you were always this comfortable around high places."

The sylveon smiled. "Nothing worth mentioning. Like I've said, over and over and over."

Upright flashed a toothy grin. "What will you do if I keep asking? Attack me?"

"Maybe I'm downright vicious, and simply putting on a show for the instructors."

"You were an assassin – no, wait. You were in training but ran away."

Pep suddenly became forlorn. She stepped away from the ledge and started for door on the other side. "I think I want to turn in early. Want to walk back to the dorms with me?"

"...Sure."

 _Did I guess it?_ Upright wondered. _No, probably not._

They descending the tower, now empty in the late hours. They walked in silence – him on the bridge, and Pep on the edge. He remembered when he first saw her do it; outside the infirmary. Back then, it seemed like a trick to impress them. Now…

Pep gasped and her tail went haywire, smacking against the rails as she hopped down. "Upright! Look – Acker is back from his private training in East Territory!"

Sure enough, the mudkip was walking back with commander Steel of East Territory, toward the dorm. As if by some magic connection, Acker turned straight towards the sylveon. Even from here, Upright could see the huge smile the cheerleader put on. He charged at the pair. Pep helped close the gap, until they were nose-to-nose.

 _Oh no,_ he thought. _Here it comes._ The two commenced the chant:

"Left whatever in – left whatever out – Right whatever in – right whatever out – belly to the ground – shake what you got – and… bump!" The two bumped heads.

Then, Acker turned to Upright. His smile just grew larger… and larger…

"It's very nice to see you again, Acker," Upright said.

"Darn!" Acker exclaimed. "I'll have you doing the Tenth Floor Greeting soon enough."

"I got Lilith to do it," Pep bragged. Upright cut back on a moan: Lilith the gothorita, and other infiltrator, did it on the condition they change 'paw' to 'whatever' and 'tail' to 'what you got.' _How did this stupid greeting ever catch on_? The quilava sighed: if Pep, Doggy and Acker agreed on something, the whole tenth floor followed.

Commander Steel caught up to them. "What great camaraderie," he said. "You are doing most proudly here. A sure blessing to the Waterbed family name."

The mudkip grew a little skittish. "Thanks, commander Steel. But it was Pep's idea-"

"Nonsense." They grew silent, unwilling to disagree with the commander of the scouts. "You, infiltrator."

Upright put a paw on his chest. "Me, commander?"

"Yes. Make sure he returns to his floor unmolested."

Upright nodded sheepishly. The commander spread his wings – a grand marvel in both size and power – and took to the sky. The quilava felt a burning desire to explore the clouds.

Pep broke in on his envy. "So, Acker, how was it?"

The mudkip struck a fearsome pose. "I trained a lot in combat. I'll make pokémon really happy, _or_ really sad."

 _That much is true,_ Upright thought. When it was the mudkip's turn to abuse Upright, he learned exactly how painful cuts from his fins could be. It was horrifying to not immediately know where he was struck, until blood broke through his coat. Then the _stinging_ began.

Upright shuddered and followed the two to the dorm.

Inside, recruits sifted around aimlessly, trying to work up a desire to sleep. Training incorporated so many new things, regardless of vocation, that it was hard to give up one day for another. Several recruits gave the boisterous mudkip looks, not all of them pleasant. Yet Acker was too happy to be back at the Initiative to mind.

Besides: they knew better than to enter an infiltrator's space. Upright wouldn't think twice if someone attempted to corner Acker.

The tenth floor, as usual, was rowdy.

"Blah, blah blah! Blah!" Doggy hollered. It seemed that Tahtib and him had started their yelling match for the week.

"Yeah just keep barking, moron!" Tahtib shouted back. "We totally failed the exercise due to me being an above-average scrapper. Or, wait! Maybe it was the growlithe failing his courses that pissed all over it!"

"You weren't listening!" Doggy growled. "And you can't discuss rankings here!"

Tahtib scoffed and turned to the audience. "Hey, everyone: Tairé ranked Doggy as sub-par in _every_ course!"

Out of all the rankings – failed, sub-par, average, above-average and surpassing – sub-par was merely a ledge before the fall. Upright didn't know his friend was so far behind.

Also, this same friend seemed ready to kill Tahtib. Luckily, Acker swept in to mediate, as if he was never absent for a month.

"I'm back," Acker said stepping between them. "Hey, Doggy. Left whatever in!"

"I'm going to tear his throat out! Get a little closer!"

"I thought you'd be happy to see me..." Acker swished a fore-paw about wearily.

Doggy slowed down. "Huh? Of course I am. Sorry. L-Left whatever in..."

Tahtib, too, calmed down. He'd much rather pick on Acker than Doggy. "That greeting makes me want to curl up somewhere and die," he said. "You can't peddle that 'smiles go for miles' crap to me. By the way, blue twerp, how was it being coddled by mommy and daddy for a month?"

The greeting finished on a sour note. "I, uh, it wasn't like that," Acker said. "It was hard training!"

"Why'd you go to East Territory then? I know – they're afraid if they don't wash the poor off of you, it will stay forever."

"Enough, Tahtib," Pep hissed. "And Doggy, no one is going to judge you. We're all here to help. Right?"

"I-I-I'm not sure I'd be of much help," Barley admitted. The sandshrew curled in instinctively.

"Not if my life depended on it," Tahtib said. "He's on his- _ah!_ "

Hard-day crept in on the pancham. He opened his maw, then slammed it shut with a disturbing _clack._

Tahtib raised his paws up. "Fine. But he has to _want_ help. That's, er, why I brought up his rankings. To facilitate discourse."

"Thank you, Hard-day," Pep said. The totodile lifted an arm. He hardly moved his arms much, unless he was drawing for his courses.

The growlithe hung his head. None of this reassured him much.

"Can we have a moment?" Upright asked. "I'll speak with him."

The floor agreed, moving off to the other side of the hall to greet Acker. Alone, Doggy drooped farther, allowing his ears to fall flat against his head. It was a sight that, if Upright had a choice, he'd choose to forget.

"You said you were getting used to it," Upright said. The quilava donned his best Doggy impression. " _Gah-hoh, I could lead a dedenne into Hard-day's mouth!_ "

"I thought I had it, I _really_ thought it was in the bag. Leading requires a certain kind of calculating. All my life, I've been something of a forward-thinker. I've never calculated a thing in my life. When it comes time to make a decision, it dons on me: I have _no_ plan, _no_ reason to think my scheme will work. So I freeze up."

"I feel that way at times," Upright admitted. "I just wing it."

"You're only responsible for yourself, furbrain. When the leader is a moron, the team's sole order is dying."

Upright extended and arm over Doggy's shoulder. "Well, I know one thing. A genius strider and a deathseeker makes choices-"

Doggy jerked back. "Don't call me those!" He barked. "Come on, I've told you not to… I'm no _genius strider._ And if Khridoli asks me one more time, _one more_ , where I'm from... gah, I might lose it!"

The quilava smiled. "Are you done?"

Despite himself, Doggy found a smile. Even if he was sub-par, the growlithe looked like a leader when he smiled. "Jerk. Anyhow, I have one last chance. Tairé still wants me to lead a team for the first explorations. So your pup-at-front's gonna surpassing these stupid courses in no time."

 _That's right!_ Upright realized. _Our first exploration is just a few days away._ Tomorrow they would receive their team formations. Usually floor-mates were put together, except when no one could occupy a task. The tenth floor needed a scout and a researcher, while either Hard-day or Barley expected to be transferred to another floor's team. Upright knew it wasn't right, but he prayed for Lilith to get transferred.

"Pah to the rankings, pah to Tahtib, and pah to deathseeking. I'm super pumped to go Outside!"

Upright nodded. "Let's hope we're in for some pleasant surprises."

"Surprises are among my favorite things," a voice added.

It sounded like Marker. Upright spun around to greet him; instead, he was face-to-face with a giant black-furred hound. He drew back a little and bottled up a yelp.

"Marker?" Upright asked. He sniffed curiously. It was Marker, all right.

The mightyena shook his shaggy fur about gleefully. "Hello."

"Y-You're bigger."

Doggy laughed. "Upright, top-class observer, does it again! Marker, you evolved. That's amazing, congratulations!"

"Yes. Khridoli saw me in pain today. He said to go to the infirmary. It felt very funny."

"You evolved," Upright breathed.

He had a small sense of it six months ago, when he wondered why commander Austere wasn't another species. Pokémon can reform, or transition, into new species on a chain. Evolution was consistent where identity marks weren't. Poochyena, outside of a freak incident, became mightyena. And quilava became typhlosion. Remembering the image in the _Guide to Evolving_ made him shudder.

"Our underdog is now the top dog. Our exploration is going to be a cinch!" Doggy exclaimed.

Marker's new tail stopped swishing. "I have bad news. Commander Khridoli says I have graduated. I begin real missions in a week. They say I can't come because I will skew the results."

Upright gaped. He knew Marker was blowing through his courses, yet it still shocked him that they allowed this. "W-With no Outside training?"

"I don't know," Marker replied, flustered. "I betrayed the pack."

"No – no way," Doggy said. "This is good news. We're both proud of you. It's just unbelievable… you graduated in half the normal time. And you evolved." Then, the growlithe grew loud again."Well, that settles it! I now have a goal to work towards! If Marker graduated in six months, I'll graduate in seven."

"Me too," Upright declared.

"Left whatever in!" Marker barked.

"Left whatever in!" Doggy repeated.

Upright glared at them. "Nice try."

"I am now bigger than you," Marker said. "I will make you put the whatever in."

The three fell into a scrap. Upright played along, yet a questioned burned in the back of his head: _without Marker as our underdog, who will we get?_


	11. Chapter 11: In need of luck

To celebrate Marker's evolution, the tenth floor stayed up into the late hours of the night. Courses for the first six months had come to a close; all that remained was to study for their first exploration. Even so, everyone agreed that reading old tomes was possible while tired.

Upright squeezed in four hours of sleep before a claw nudged him. He yawned, stretching out his hind legs.

"Morning, Upright," commander Austere said.

The quilava doubled his efforts to stand up. "A-Ah... morning, commander."

"You've something on your chest."

His wound from Pep had scabbed over the night. With a few rubs at the fur, the flakes fell away into his bed. "It's from my tolerance training."

"I suppose the wound feels nice. A memory of a course you'll need not take again."

Half-true: if Upright performed poorly on his exploration, Regal could deem him unready in any number of his courses. That included Tolerating Pain – an idea that iced his veins. "I'm more anxious than… no, I'm just exhausted. Marker evolved, so we stayed up late." The mightyena slept. His old spot next to Doggy no longer sufficed. Again and again he shoved the growlithe away with his giant hind-leg.

Austere smiled. "Good for him. So, are you too tired to see Amory's latest invention?"

The smug charmander had him cornered. Upright couldn't turn down these invitations, which came every week. Considering he had sacrificed the vocation for the virtue of tooth and claw, it was his sole chance to use them and Amory knew it. "I… gah. Of course I want to see."

Austere became slightly giddy. "I've never seen an infiltrator on such a short leash."

Upright snapped his teeth lazily. He'd never dream of doing so to a commander like Tairé or Steel. But the nonviolent vocations had easygoing commanders. Researchers, toolkits and cartographers – he was chummy with all of them, and a part of him questioned whether his past had anything to do with it.

"If you're done posturing, we must leave. The Timestop closes in fifteen minutes."

Upright padded forward, yet stopped. _Yikes_ , he thought, _I almost forgot._

He nudged Doggy awake.

"No," his friend grunted. "Why'd you poke me, you…" the growlithe mumbled an unsavory word.

"Doggy," he whispered. "I'm going out. Remember to let Pep in." Even now, the sylveon chose to sleep on the roof of the dormitories.

Doggy swore to chuck Upright out of the tower. This meant, at least, that the growlithe heard him.

"The custodian allows her to do that?" Austere asked.

"Unless one of us climbed after her, there's nothing we can do," Upright replied.

"…I see. Let's hurry to the Timestop."

~~~O~~~

Despite six months flying by, the R&D warehouse looked the same, including the same amounts of clutter and shelves. It was cleaner than usual – often a result of Amory recycling useless relics, which still had energy but served no further purpose to anyone. These relics were burned in a furnace of Austere's making. This furnace's flame bathed the warehouse in an orange light. Inside, Upright saw plastic dolls and a cindering box. Several packs of cards spilled from the box's remains.

Austere took one look and gasped. "Commander Amory, you've burnt our packs of multicolor cards!" He exclaimed.

The cinccino crossed his arms and snarled a little. "Uh-huh. That's what you both get for cheating."

Upright put a paw on the furnace, and used the other to express his distress by waving it around. "Cheating? We never cheated!"

"Really? You expect me to believe I had to 'draw four' nine times in a row?"

Commander Eatzle snickered."I may have repainted my hand. If anything, blame your inability to see a counterfeit."

"You repainted them on the spot?" Amory asked, appalled. "That's, uh, fairly talented. Also: never enter my warehouse again."

Everyone had a good laugh. Ra, the serperior Upright had first met on the Timestop, and Tally, the sentret who survived with him, were working today. So was Jash, a vigoroth in the opposite dorm, even so his required time in the warehouse effectively ended yesterday.

"Commander Amory, we should inform them about the other cards," Ra suggested.

"It's unrelated to the invention, but you are right," the cinccino said. "While the multicolored cards weren't anything beyond functional, the other decks we have our incredibly potent."

"Which ones are these again?"

"The ones we use to play poker. With the four shapes."

"And excellently drawn humans," Eatzle added.

"Who said you were allowed to speak? Anyway, they have an incredibly rare quality to them. One we've never had the chance to explore. I think their metaphysical layer… is uh..." the commander stopped in the middle of an explanation, a rare occasion. "I now realize this is leading to an offensive conclusion."

His eyes turned to Austere. The charmander was seething. "I have an idea of what you discovered."

Amory turned toward the furnace. "I… yes. The cards are connected to luck. Sorry, Austere. It's been so long, it slipped my mind."

"I recommend you burn all of them." Austere seemed on the verge of becoming livid. "I can't believe I played with them without knowing... if it's no difference to you, I'll wait outside for your 'invention.'"

"Austere, wait-"

The charmander briskly walked out. Upright followed him with a baffled stare. Since he met him, Upright had never seen the charmander so flustered.

Amory shook his head. "I'm an idiot."

"What happened?" Upright asked. Amory only shook his head again, and Eatzle came forward to talk with him.

"It happened before any of us worked here," Ra whispered, lowering her head to Upright's ear. "The last commander and Austere ran an experiment with luck."

"luck? As in _I found poké on the ground_ sort of luck?"

"A special one, apparently. Whatever kind, it was a disaster. Austere isn't able to evolve. But you didn't hear that from me, Killer."

 _U-Unable to evolve_? Upright always thought about the reason. The fact that experimenting with something as insignificant as luck startled him. _What happens to a pokémon who is unable to evolve?_

Finally, Upright settled on a reply. "Stop calling me Killer," he whispered back. The serperior found his vocation ironic, considering how he reacted to the bandit's attack at the Timestop. Luckily, there hadn't been any other attacks.

Ra chuckled and pecked him. Amory started up again. His grin appeared forced, but it slowly eased into something believable.

"O-Okay," he said. "You must all wonder what I have to show you. Well, if you'd please turn your attention to the tarp beside us..."

Upright spotted the tarp. It covered up a curious mound.

"For a long time," Amory said, "I've endeavored in the field of human locomotion – basically, the strange things they use to travel. Compared to our buggies and carts, we've a lot to learn." Several heads in the audience nodded. Upright abstained; he wasn't interested in comparisons between pokémon and humans. He knew just enough of both, now, to assume they were too different. Too different, at least, for one to function entirely like the other.

The sound of the tarp being torn away roused the quilava. He blinked, gazing on as Amory revealed a wheeled box. It was far sleeker than a buggy – smaller, too – and it had enough room for a pokémon of Amory or Upright's size. Pokémon like Ra wouldn't fit in the plastic-covered pocket.

Amory shoved the tarp out of his way. "Today, we've gotten a little closer." He closed in, too excited to keep his paws off his toy. "This is a mover."

 _I know what it really is,_ Upright thought. _Amory rediscovered the go-kart._

"The scrap parts for the casing were brought to me by our teams at the Initiative. For a long time, I had the whirr-part lying around. Reconnecting them was _rough._ So was finding the right charge."

"So, uh, what does it do?" Eatzle asked. "It looks easier to pull than a buggy..."

"Oh! A volunteer!"

"I-I never-"

Amory grabbed Eatzle's paw and brought him over to the vehicle. After a short wrestling-match, the cinccino had shoved the smeargle right into the driver's seat. "This vehicle doesn't need pullers. It moves all on its own – no need to rest. Commander Eatzle, if you would press the button in front of you?"

He did. The go-kart came to life, causing its driver to yelp.

"Lghtly push down the plate underneath your paws. And I mean _lightly."_

"You know I hate things like this," Eatzle moaned. "What's to become of me, when I press the plate?"

Despite his complaint, he slowly applied pressure to the pedal. The vehicle jolted forward at first, then started to roll along. The commander looked around, thoroughly impressed.

"It moved!" Ra exclaimed. "No one's pushing it!"

"I want to chase it," Tally said.

Jash yawned with some urgency, not wanting to draw his eyes away for long.

Upright couldn't believe Amory repaired the go-kart. Perhaps his dream of creating an airplane wasn't too far off. The cinccino was beside himself; with a large smile on his face, Amory helped Eatzle drive the go-kart outside of the warehouse.

Austere, looking out over the water, got quite the scare from the engine-noise. He struck up to his feet and circled the go-kart – it took him a moment to pretend he was inspecting it.

"So." He scratched at the front with a claw. "it moves on its own?"

"Y-Yeah!" Amory said.

Several pokémon touring the dock caught on to the noise. They weren't as enthused. Several even hollered at it as if it was a threat.

Austere nodded. "I am interested. Do you have more engines?"

"Quite a few. There was another kind, with pipes that spewed nasty smog."

"I'll buy this model and the engines for a ten-thousand poké."

Upright didn't quite understand what he heard. _A h-hunded… how on Pokéarth does Austere have that much money?_

Amory seemed perturbed as well, for another reason. "I've done all I could with this vehicle… but Austere, I'd give them to you for free."

"I'm buying these relics for personal use. As such, I must pay a price like any citizen."

"I _know_ , but- gah! You always do this when you're angry."

The charmander turned away. "I want to pay a fair price."

Eatzle stepped out of the go-kart, retreating. Ra and Tally did the same.

"Back up, Killer," Ra whispered.

"How was _I_ supposed to know what Luck feels like?!" Amory shouted. "You won't share the results with me!"

"You knew what those cards held. You were hoping I'd notice and become curious."

" _What?_ First of all: never. Second of all: give me the stupid results."

Austere's voice never rose above a shout, and it didn't now, yet Upright felt the air become kinetic. With the noise of the engine still churning, it became unbearable. "It was a failure. Results. Shared."

The cinccino groaned. "Let me help you, you _moron."_

"Maybe I've never been happier this way."

"Right. You're so happy, Austere."

Eatzle tried to grab their attention. "You two…."

"Yes, I am so happy."

"Commanders," Eatzle said.

"I'm about to lead a scrapper's investigation on you. One with claws and teeth."

The charmander huffed. "Go ahead. Don't doubt me. I'll scratch back.

" _Commanders!_ " Eatzle cried. The two stopped for a moment, turning to the cartographer. "There's, uh, the head guard is here." He pointed at the grovyle, who had stealthily made his way into the group of pokémon.

"Yes, I am," Daté told them. Upright's chest tightened up. He held his breath as the grovyle inspected the go-kart. After some befuddlement, Daté pressed the engine button and turned it off. "This doesn't get turned on in public. It's scaring everyone."

Amory nodded. "Of course, commander Daté. We apologize."

"And keep your scraps private, while you're at it. The moment one adventurer claws another, my job becomes a thousand times harder. Respect for the Initiative in Pathen is abysmal as it is. And in the rest of the Territory… how close are the recruits to their sabbatical?"

"I'm not sure," Amory said. "Upright?"

The quilava looked around for a hero. Jash certainly wasn't going to jump in. He remembered his training: _don't get cowed._ "We have our first exploration this week. And then we have a break."

The way the grovyle pretended to be a stranger, surprisingly, disturbed Upright more than if he dropped subtle hints. "Good. I have my own volunteers in mind. But I need able bodies to access them. See you soon, newbies." He left, already gesturing at the crowd of bothered pokémon.

 _Why does he need adventurers to reign in these 'volunteers?'_ Upright wondered. Worse was the dread: he didn't want to work with Daté. He'd gone six months without sticking a paw into the grovyle's business. From what he heard, though, there wasn't anything suspicious about the head guard.

Amory gave him an off look, likely curious about Upright's reaction. The cinccino was always suspicious. Unlike his treatment of Austere, however, he never decided to unearth Upright's secrets.

"I think it's time we disperse," Austere said. "Thank you for showing me your invention, commander Amory. I'll be back with the money later."

The researcher sighed. "Thank you, everyone..."

~~~0~~~

"Luck?" Doggy asked.

"That's what Amory called it," Upright said. He neglected to mention Austere's role, but there was no way he could leave out everything. His floor-mates gathered around, eager to hear about the new contraption coming from the warehouse.

The growlithe chuckled. "Well, don't expect me to understand luck. I've never needed it. Gah-hoh!"

"Did the cart really move on its own?" Pep asked. "I really wish we had a researcher to explain how that's, er… possible."

 _I could_ , Upright thought. _But I shouldn't._

Doggy popped up to his feet and paced around anxiously. "Speaking of researchers: they've already announced the teams for our exploration."

The other recruits became panicked. "No way," Acker said. "We haven't heard anything about it."

"They tell leaders. I was supposed to tell you straight away," Doggy explained, "but I… we were all listening to Upright..."

"Waste of space," Tahtib muttered.

Marker padded over to the pangoro. "My ears are bigger now. But you should speak up for everyone."

"I said, _change of pace_. Things are changing."

Doggy snorted. "Anyway, some of us are moving floors. If the teams work out, they might not be coming back. Barley, you're being moved to leader Jay's team, on floor eight of the other tower."

The sandshrew nodded. "Ah. Jay is nice. I can't complain."

Privately, Pep threw over a sly grin at Hard-day. The totodile jostled about for a split-second. Upright prayed he would be able to do his own happy-dance soon. Doggy looked at him and Lilith. One part of Upright simply wanted to be with his friends. And another… something was off about the other infiltrator. She hardly ever spoke, and when she could participate she observed instead. _Maybe that made her a better infiltrator_ , Upright thought. _But we have equal marks. Either one of us can do the job._

"Lilith, you're headed to the same place."

The gothorita seemed relieved. For a brief second, Upright saw her contempt reveal itself. Several pokémon distanced themselves, probably not aware of why.

Tahtib jumped in immediately. "Is that all the departures?"

"Yes, that's all," Doggy replied. "Sad to be in our group still? Poor baby."

"Chill! Acker should be leaving also."

The floor turned to him. The mudkip sprung up in surprise, which only made everyone inch in.

Acker smiled, impressed. "Wow! The commanders wanted to swap me into leader Jay's team, but I _begged_ to stay with my friends. How did you know? Are you psychic?"

"I'm smart. Every year, the East Territory adventurers arrange things so E.T recruits are in the best teams. When their results come back, East Territory sends donations."

"You might have grown up here," Upright spat, suddenly incensed, "but that's just bullshit."

"L-Language, Upright!" Acker cried.

"No way I'm letting anyone ruin this," Upright said. "Doggy doesn't need to be distracted by stuff like that right now."

For once, the pangoro seemed remorseful. "I understand that, idiot. But it's true, and I feel it needs to be brought up. So don't sic the crocodile or the mutt on me just yet. Look: who's our new researcher, scout and underdog?"

Doggy, despite his anger, complied. "Our researcher's name is Mara."

"Poor as the dirt she grew out of - or whatever," Tahtib said.

"She's failing the course on field identification," Upright said, before he could help it. He heard the results sometimes during his visits to Amory. The sunflora was too easy to distract.

"Mara is fun to be around," Pep said.

"Well," Doggy continued, "our scout is Flightly. I remember him from orientation. He's a fighter."

Tahtib tittered. "Look at Acker's face if you want to know who Flightly is."

The mudkip's frown never looked more disparate. "The cheerleaders try to meet as many pokémon as possible, for our courses. And, I m-met Flightly… he _hates_ me. I… he..."

"Don't sweat it, fish. You're as nauseating as usual. It's only because you're East Territory. My dad was complaining about it a month ago, that pidgeotto is cousin to that fearow who attacked the Initiative. Rumor is, he was the reason they knew about the delivery, because that bird was spying."

Upright remembered the fearow's talons entering his back and shuddered.

"So, Doggy. Who's our underdog?" Tahtib asked.

The growlithe's breathing was off. Upright could tell that he was trying to process all of this, and failing miserably. His confidence was totally sapped. "W-We, uh, they told me that for the exercise, we don't need an underdog."

"What?!" Pep cried. "They can't do this!"

"They can, Pep, and they have."

Marker snarled. "I'll go with you. Let's see them try to stop me."

"We're all new," Acker mumbled. "My parents are honorable. I bet they won't make a donation..."

"Unbalanced teams could lead to the weaker ones being hurt," Pep argued. "This is dangerous!"

"No… _no_!" Doggy barked. "We're not one of the weaker teams! The easiest way to get nipped is to believe that. You hearing me, floor ten?"

"Loud and clear," Upright replied. "They might strip us bare, but we've got each other." _And they've got me. Not every team can have an infiltrator. If I offer everything I've got, we can do this._

"No matter what happens, this leader is four-paws-down on this mission. So everyone chin up…" every moment, his vigor weakened. As the gravity hit the growlithe, his tail and ears started to droop. "And, er..."

"Make sure you're ready," Marker finished. "Go, leave. Before I nip you for being lazy."

That wasn't satisfying enough. Floor ten waited for its leader to tell them to study.

Instead, Doggy turned tail. "I've got sleep to catch up on," he muttered, before moving to his bed. "Our exploration is two days from now. So… go study up."

The two explorers departing, Barley and Lilith, also went to pack up their things.

Th sandshrew bowed to them. "My condolences," he said.

Lilith grinned smugly at Upright. "Hope Regal offers a curve," she taunted.

 _Doggy is falling apart,_ Upright thought. _Pep can't pin down a pokémon, Tahtib detests being near us, and Hard-day refuses to speak. Our cheerleader is at odds with the scout, and our researcher isn't promising. Marker can't come with us…_ the quilava sighed. _And I'm not sure if I can do anything to save us from failing. I could sure go for some luck right now._


	12. NOTE

If you've reached this point, or clicked onto this story interested in the premise, please try out "Deathseeker Doggy." It is the same story drastically changed to be more like a story, less like an anthology of unrelated events. You can find it by going to my profile-it will have the same avatar as this story.

A big thank you to the reviewers and followers who supported this story. I hope to see you again soon.

Thanks for everything,

MisterBland1


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